An office of Bảo Việt Bank, a member of the insurance-finance group Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH). BVH lost 2.4 per cent on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

 HÀ NỘI — Shares ended lower on Wednesday, witnessing differentiation in pillar stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.20 per cent to close at 854.44 points.

The index gained 2.84 per cent to end Tuesday at 856.13 points.

Nearly 355 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ4.3 trillion (US$184.5 million).

Market breadth on HoSE was negative with 220 decliners and 147 gainers.

The blue-chip share tracker VN30-Index dropped 0.3 per cent to 796.43 points.

Nineteen of the 30 largest stocks by market valuation and trading liquidity decreased while 10 increased.

Shares struggled for most of trading, with large-cap stocks witnessing wide divergence. Pillar stocks that put great pressure on the market were Vingroup (VIC) falling 1.6 per cent, dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) dropping 1.2 per cent, Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) decreasing 1 per cent, Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) dropping 2.4 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) falling 1.08 per cent and Masan Group (MSN) down by 0.2 per cent.

In the opposite direction, Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) increased by 3.3 per cent, Vincom Retail (VRE) rose by 2.8 per cent and Vinhomes (VHM) gained 1.5 per cent.

On a sector basis, 17 of 25 sectors on the market lost ground, including securities, insurance, real estate, energy, banking, agriculture, information and technology, food and beverage and retail.

Health care, rubber production, logistics, seafood production and material construction were among gainers.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was down 1.92 per cent to close Wednesday at 113.27 points.

The northern market index had risen 1.46 per cent to close Tuesday at 115.49 points.

More than 70.8 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ512 billion.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ98.78 billion on HOSE. They were net sellers on the HNX to the tune of VNĐ380 million.

Cautious sentiment dominated the market on Wednesday as investors predicted a strong fluctuation of the VN-Index in the last two sessions of the week when future contract VN302006 expires on Thursday and the ETF finishes restructuring its portfolio on Friday, said BIDV Securities Company. — VNS