With losers outnumbering gainers by 240 to 166, the main index closed down 5.39 points, or 0.57% against the previous session at 939.03. Trading volume on the southern bourse contracted 7% at over 412 million shares while value dipped 8.6% at some VND8.3 trillion, including VND1.2 trillion worth of shares traded in put-through deals.

Increased selling pressure left many stocks unable to maintain the growth momentum. Among four bank stocks with outstanding performance in the morning trading phase, only STB and VPB rose slightly, while TCB and MBB closed in negative territory.

STB was the most actively-traded stock in the group with a matching volume of 25.8 million shares. TCB and VPB ranked second and third by liquidity with 20.95 million and 16 million shares changing hands, respectively.

Aside from STB and VPB, other positive contributors to the main index included housing developer VHM, dairy company VNM, lender BID, brewery firm SAB, and retailer VRE but they increased slightly.

Meanwhile, a host of stocks tumbled. Lender CTG fell a sharp 3.27%, State-owned rubber firm GVR plunged 3.73%, insurer BVH dropped 3.7%, and bank stock TPB edged down 2.53%.

Many small and medium stocks also closed deep in the red. Only a few stocks in this group bucked the market downtrend and hit their ceiling prices, such as TVB, OGC, TDC.

On the northern bourse, the HNX-Index could not overcome the selling pressure at the end of the session. It shed 0.34 points, or 0.25% versus the earlier session at 139.98.