The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), fell 5.04 points, or 0.45%, to 1,117.42 on Wednesday, ending its streak of three consecutive gaining sessions.
The major bourse saw up to 280 losers and 126 gainers, with over 928 million shares changing hands for VND17.1 trillion ($727.38 million), a slight decrease of VND300 billion from the previous session.
Two securities blue chips, VND of VNDirect Securities and SSI of Saigon Securities, took the lead in trading value on the HoSE, with VND735 billion ($31.3 million) and VND650 billion ($27.65 million), respectively.
The VN30 index, which tracks the performance of 30 largest-cap stocks, dropped 4.79 points to 1,110.6, with 11 tickers rising and 17 losing.
Red covered many groups such as real estate, securities, steel, and fertilizer; while banking, aviation and energy stocks saw a divergence.
A series of large-cap stocks such as HPG of steel giant Hoa Phat, NVL and PDR of real estate developers Novaland and Phat Dat, and STB of Sacombank decreased 1-4%.
Some small caps recorded massive sell-offs. Notably, QCG of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Corp. turned from the ceiling price in the morning to the floor price at the end of the session, ending its 13-session gaining streak.
Foreign investors were net buyers on the HoSE for the fourth consecutive session to the tune of VND600 billion ($25.5 million). They mainly net purchased HPG, SSI, VND, and CTG of Vietinbank.
The HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse lost 1.34 points to 228.91, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market inched down 0.18 points to 84.82.