A worker helps move steel products at Hoà Phát Steel Pipe company in Đà Nẵng. Shares of Hòa Phát Group (HPG) lost 2.2 per cent on Tuesday. — Photo hoaphat.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares declined on Tuesday, dragged by market heavyweights as selling pressure increased significantly towards the closing minutes of trading.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.44 per cent to close Tuesday at 874.80 points.

More than 484.7 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ6.9 trillion (US$298.6 million).

Market breadth was negative with the decliners outnumbering the gainers by 249 to 129.

The southern market index had gained 1.64 per cent on Monday.

Pillar stocks were sold, such as Vinhomes (VHM), losing 1.6 per cent, Vingroup (VIC), dropping 0.5 per cent, Bank for Investment and Development (BID), down 2.2 per cent, steel maker Hòa Phát Group (HPG), declining 2.2 per cent, VPBank (VPB), dropping 1.8 per cent, and Novaland (NVL), down 1.5 per cent.

On the other side, some large-caps advanced, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), rising 1.5 per cent, brewery firm Sabeco (SAB), gaining 3 per cent, HDBank (HDB), rising 6.8 per cent, Masan Group (MSN), climbing 1.3 per cent and Vietjet (VJC), moving up 1.2 per cent.

Large-cap stocks lost ground on Tuesday as their tracker VN30-Index was down 0.34 per cent to close at 818.70 points, with 20 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity gaining.

On a sector basis, 18 out of 25 sectors decreased such as retail, insurance, securities, food and beverage, seafood processing, banking, real estate, agriculture, home appliance production, logistics, construction and construction materials.

They declined between 0.5 per cent and 5.03 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange lost 0.43 per cent to close Tuesday at 113.64 points.

Nearly 80 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth more than VNĐ915 billion.

“As the market has become overbought, correction and volatility are expected in upcoming sessions,” said Trần Xuân Bách, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC).

“VN-Index is forecast to receive support from 860-870 points in the next session. However, the market’s short-term upward momentum is facing difficulties at the resistance zone of 880-890 points.”

“Therefore, we expect that the market will experience increasing sessions to retest this resistance, however, the possibility of an upward breakout is low in the short term,” Bách said.

“Stock exposure should be maintained at 20-30 per cent of the portfolio. Investors should hold off on trading and observe the market,” he said.

“Investors with high stock exposure may consider taking short-term profits at 875-888 points,” he said. — VNS