A worker of PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) checks technical issues. Shares of GAS lost 1.5 per cent on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of GAS

HÀ NỘI — Shares reversed after early gains in the morning session on Wednesday, with the market struggling for most of the trading time.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.33 per cent to close at 1,162.01 points.

The index had gained 0.22 per cent to end Tuesday's session at 1,177.64 points.

Nearly 603 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ15 trillion (US$652.2 million).

Market breadth was negative with 93 gainers and 357 losers.

“The VN-Index mainly struggled around the reference level Wednesday. Foreign investors were net sellers on both HSX and HNX,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Market breadth turned to equilibrium with liquidity not much different from the previous session.

“According to our assessment, the VN-Index is likely to continue fluctuating with a narrow range in the next session,” it said.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ700.07 billion on HOSE, including dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) (VNĐ106.4 billion), Vietinbank (CTG) (VNĐ77.3 billion) and Hoà Phát Group (HPG) (VNĐ69.4 billion). They were net sellers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ5.92 billion.

Among the losers were Hoàng Huy Investment Financial Services JSC (TCH) with a drop of more than 3 per cent, Vinhomes (VHM), Sacombank (STB), Bank for Investment and Development (BID) and Vincom Retail (VRE) were losers with more than 2 per cent decrease.

Banking stocks also had a negative session as the majority of stocks saw a decline. Vietcombank (VCB), HDBank (HDB), Techcombank (TCB), Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB) and Nam Á Bank (NAB) all lost more than 1 per cent.

In sync with the general market, oil and gas stocks also dropped strongly. PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), Bình Sơn Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR) and PetroViet Nam Coating JSC (PVB) all dropped more than 3 per cent, PV Oil (OIL) lost by over 2 per cent, PVPower (POW) and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) both fell by more than 1 per cent.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index declined 1.29 per cent to stay at 1,167.18 points.

Twenty-six of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket decreased while only four made gains.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.38 per cent to end Wednesday at 237.89 points.

The northern market index had risen 0.34 per cent to end Tuesday at 238.78 points.

More than 156.9 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ2.5 trillion. — VNS