The benchmark index had dipped on opening and stayed below the opening mark of 850.15 points for most of the trading session.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, 197 stocks rose and 186 fell. Total trading volume improved slightly over the previous session to VND3.54 trillion ($153.55 million), but remained well below July’s average of VND4.5 trillion ($195.14 million) per session.

Although gainers outnumbered losers this session, the negative performance of blue chips dragged the market into the red. The VN30-Index for HoSE’s 30 largest caps slid 0.58 percent with 21 stocks gaining and five losing.

Nguyen Hong Khanh, head analyst at brokerage VIS Securitiesm said: "After consistently gaining for two weeks, recovering 70 points since its early August bottom of 780 points, the market is facing strong corrective pressure as it nears last month’s peaks of 860-880 points, a technical analysis shows."

And despite unpredictable developments of the second Covid-19 outbreak in Vietnam, some individual businesses are still posting positive growth, and so performance of stocks in each industry group will vary, based on how investors interpret companies’ second quarter financial reports and short-term business plans, he added.

Ngo Quoc Hung, a senior researcher at brokerage MB Securities (MBS), also observed that investors have recently shifted their cash into smaller-capped stocks from blue chips, the market’s pillars, in search for new opportunities.

Tuesday, for instance, saw 62.5 percent of total trading volume going to stocks outside the VN30, while non-blue chips account for less than 50 percent of a day’s trades, usually.

Prices of the SJC national gold brand, meanwhile, surged 2.9 percent over the previous day to VND58.17 million ($2,511) per tael by noon this session, following similar movements of global prices in the U.S.-session last night and in Asia this morning.

On the VN30, SAB of major brewer Sabeco led losses with 1.7 percent, followed by VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, down 1.5 percent, and VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, VRE’s parent company, down 1.4 percent.

All stocks but one in the banking sector were in the green this session. Of the three biggest state-owned banks by assets, CTG of VietinBank shed 1.3 percent and BID of BIDV lost 0.8 percent while VCB of Vietcombank kept its opening price.

Among mid-sized banks, mostly private, EIB of Eximbank led losses with 0.9 percent, followed by HDB of HDBank, 0.7 percent, and MBB of state-owned Military Bank, 0.6 percent.

Other major losing tickers were VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 1.2 percent, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, 1.1 percent, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, 1.1 percent.

In the opposite direction, SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar topped gains with 2.2 percent, followed by STB of private Sacombank, up 0.9 percent, ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros, also up 0.9 percent.

The HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and smaller-caps, shed 0.16 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.4 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers for the eighth straight session to the tune of VND290 billion ($12.58 million) on all three bourses, triple that of Monday’s net sell value, with VGC of construction firm Viglacera, up 2.75 percent, and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, down 0.13 percent, the most net sold stocks.