Hanoi (VNA) - Shares sunk for a♔ second day on the HCM Stock Exchange on October 3 under heavy profit-taking selling pressure while investꦅors became cautious ahead of the release of the third-quarter earnings of companies.

The benchmark VN-Index, the measure of 312 stocks, lost 0.4 percent to close at 683.1 points after reaching nearly 689 points in the early morning trade. Slumps of large-cap stocks weighed on the market. The Index climbed for nine consecutive sessions before landing down 0.4 percent on the previous session. Only two of the 10 biggest stocks by market value on the southern bourse increased, including dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) and PV Gas (GAS), both up less than 1 percent, while another six tumbled. Property developer VinGroup (VIC) was the largest loser, decreasing 3.4 percent. VIC shares declined 4.4 percent in the last two trades after the company announced its plan of changing Vinschool and Vinmec, its education and hospital arms, to a non-profit model. Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) followed with a drop of 2.6 percent in value. These two shares were also on the top list of the most sold shares by foreign investors yesterday. Foreigners were responsible for a net sell value of nearly 29 billion VND for VIC shares and 23 billion VND for HPG shares. The market breadth was negative with the losing shares outnumbering the gaining ones by 131-122 while 59 closed unchanged. Liquidity increased slightly with more than 121 million shares worth over 2.7 trillion VND (121 million USD) traded by the end of the session. Overseas investors returned to net selling in HCM City’s market after two net buying days. They offloaded 5.4 million shares worth a net value of nearly 153 billion VND on October 3. In the first nine months of this year, foreigners were responsible for total net sell value of 5.3 trillion VND. This is in contrast to the fact that they were net buyers for a total value of 3.5 trillion VND in the same period of last year. On the smaller exchange in Hanoi, the foreign sector was net buyers for a total value of nearly 1.2 trillion VND during January-September. The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange was up 0.4 percent to end at 85.4 points with over 36 million shares worth 460 billion VND exchanged. According to analysts at VP Bank Securities Co, the market is exposed to downward risk after a long-run winning period. In the context of current low deposit rates and incoming third-quarter earnings season, investors will likely maintain their investments in the securities market.-VNA