A trading office of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). The bank's shares (HoSE: BID) gained 1.1 per cent on Wednesday following news about its October income. — Photo bidv.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares slid on Wednesday as investors were holding back ahead of third-quarter corporate earnings.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.08 per cent to close at 987.0 points.

The VN-Index rose 0.24 per cent on Tuesday.

More than 171.5 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth VNĐ3.63 trillion (US$256 million).

The trading figures increased in volume but fell in value compared to the previous day.

Investors were unwilling to participate in the market trading ahead of the July-September earnings season, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

Their caution may continue keeping stocks differentiated in the short term until earnings reports for the third quarter of the year are fully released, the company added.

The three market indices that classify southern-listed stocks by market value and trading liquidity were up between 0.13 per cent and 0.42 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The large-cap VN30-Index gained 0.18 per cent, driven by retailer Mobile World (MWG), tech group FPT Corp (FPT), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), and building contractor Coteccons (CTD).

Shares of FPT Corp, retailer Mobile World and builder Coteccons boosted their industry indices 1.9 per cent, 2.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

Those companies are listed among those expected to deliver growth rates in Q3 earnings in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, shares of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) advanced 1.1 per cent after the bank chairman Phan Đức Tú told local media that BIDV in October will receive income from selling shares to the South Korean lender KEB Hana Bank.

In late July, the bank’s board of directors approved the plan to privately transfer 603.3 million shares to KEB Hana Bank for nearly VNĐ20.3 trillion.

After the deal, BIDV will raise its charter capital to VNĐ40.2 trillion from VNĐ34.2 trillion and the Government will slash its stake in the bank by 14.2 per cent to 80.8 per cent.

Other sectors that weighed on the market were insurance, agriculture, seafood processing and real estate.

Investors chose to stand out and gave very little support to the market, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in a note.

If there is no big news, the VN-Index will continue struggling between 983 points and 990 points in the next few days, the company forecast.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index went down 0.19 per cent to end at 103.81 points.

The northern market index fell 0.36 per cent on Tuesday.

More than 33 million shares were traded on the Hà Nội market, worth VNĐ396.6 billion. — VNS