A Petrolimex gas station on Trần Hưng Đạo Street, Hà Nội. The petrol retailer's stock was among eight of the 10 largest blue chips by market capitalisation making gains on Wednesday.

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares ended Wednesday on a negative note as skepticism about a global economic recession and trade tensions weighed in on market sentiment.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed almost flat at 977.26 points.

It had lost total 1.58 per cent in the previous two days to end Tuesday at 976.79 points.

The index opened Wednesday positively but selling pressure narrowed its gain towards the end of the day.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index went on a similar path and it finished down 0.52 per cent at 102.32 points.

The northern market index had declined by total 0.38 per cent from last week’s end level of 103.25 points.

About 168.2 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ3.75 trillion (US$161.4 million).

The indices struggled on Wednesday as investors were still cautious after the market had fallen in the previous two trading days, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

Investors were clearly unwilling to buy and sell as they still worried about the volatility of the international financial markets and global economy, the company said.

Among key international issues are the US-China trade war, which shows no signs of ending, and the emerged dispute between Japan and South Korea.

Those worries, plus selling pressure that hit groups of stocks having made strong gains recently, were the main reasons that kept the market sideways, TCSC said.

Data on both local exchanges showed large-cap and mid-cap stocks were all brought down. The large-cap VN30-Index was down 0.09 per cent to end at 886.08 points.

Half of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket declined while 13 increased.

Eight of the 10 largest stocks on HoSE advanced. However, the market’s dependence on those blue chips, the depletion of the trading liquidity and scattered capital flow signalled the market’s short-term outlook continued to be negative, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said.

On current conditions, the Vietnamese stock market may keep declining to lower levels to trigger purchases for low-priced shares, SHS said.

Foreign investors net-bought VNĐ25 billion worth of Vietnamese shares on Wednesday. However, SHS said it would not count too much on foreign trading because they (foreign investors) are being weighed down by the international developments.

The medium-term support of 976 points would cushion the market sentiment in the next trading days, SHS said. — VNS