Onthe Hochiminh Stock Exchange, growth of large-cap shares helped sustainthe VN-Index's gain of just 0.22 percent to finish the session at593.05 points.
Several blue chips closed in the green, includingVietcombank (VCB), VinGroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN), Bao Viet Holdings(BVH), Phu My Fertiliser (DPM), Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoang Anh GiaLai Co (HAG). Others declined.
The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, inched up just 0.36 percent to end at 622.43 points.
Overall, the market condition was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 135-86, while 83 others closed unchanged.
Warningsof a possible bull-trap issued by securities companies in previous daysseemed realistic as the growth of blue chips was used to boost demandin the morning, only for heavy selling pressure to push the market downstrongly in the afternoon.
Liquidity improved over Monday. Themarket volume rose nearly 30 percent to total more than 156 millionshares while the value of trades climbed 20 percent to reach 2.63trillion VND (120.6 million USD).
Property developer FLC Group(FLC) reclaimed the most active stock position with a whopping 14.6million shares traded, but its price slid 2.3 percent to conclude at8,600 VND a share.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Indexfailed to sustain morning gains, ending the session 0.64 percent lowerat 84.94 points.
Just 89 stocks rose, 113 fell and 154 remained flat.
"Manyinvestors decided to take short profits from banks and securitiescompanies which advanced significantly after the Government signaledloosening of foreign ownership limits in listed companies," saidanalysts at FPT Securities Co.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) wasdown 1.44 percent while brokers like VNDirect Securities Co (VND), SaiGon-Hanoi Securities (SHS) and IB Securities Co (VIX) plunged 5.4-6.8percent.
FLC Joint Venture Global Investment Co (KLF) was theleading stock here with a trade of 6.7 million shares, ending flat at6,900 VND a share.
Foreign buyers continued to collect shares on both bourses, picking up stocks worth 457.2 billion VND (21 million USD).-VNA