A store of Phú Nhuận Jewelry JSC (PNJ) in HCM City. PNJ lost 0.5 per cent on Wednesday. — Photo pnj.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares ended lower on Wednesday due to selling pressure pushing large cap stocks down, but bottom purchase demand increased towards the end of trading, helping narrow the market’s decline.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.09 per cent to close Wednesday at 889.32 points.

The southern index had risen 0.21 per cent to close Tuesday's trading session at 890.14 points.

More than 318.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ6 trillion (US$258.2 million).

Market breadth was neutral with 185 decliners and 202 gainers.

According to Thành Công Securities Co, after the VN-Index successfully breaks the 900-point threshold, there will be corrections in the short term as the market will need more time to accumulate before returning to stronger momentum.

“It is forecasted that the VN-Index will continue to struggle in the next sessions, differentiation will happen in large-cap stocks,” the company said.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, decreased 0.38 per cent to close Wednesday at 824.42 points.

In the VN30 basket, 20 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity increased. Eight lost ground and two were unchanged.

Large-caps were weighed down by selling pressure, including Bank for Development and Investment (BID), Hoà Phát Group (HPG), Military Bank (MBB), Vietcombank (VCB), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vinamilk (VNM), Vietinbank (CTG), FPT Corporation (FPT), Vietjet (VJC), Sabeco (SAB), Techcombank (TCB) and Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ).

But sharp falls sending stocks to attractive prices triggered investors to bottom-fish, narrowing the decline of the overall market. Notable gainers included Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG), Novaland (NVL), Vinhomes (VHM), Vincom Retail (VRE) and SSI Securities Incorporation (SSI).

On a sector basis, insurance, information and technology, healthcare, energy, banking, construction and construction materials were among the losers on Wednesday.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was up 0.90 per cent to end Wednesday at 125.93 points.

Nearly 47.7 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ621 billion.

The northern index had dropped 0.50 per cent to close Tuesday at 124.80 points.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ169.34 billion on HOSE. They were net sellers on the HNX with the value of VNĐ3.14 billion. — VNS