After five consecutive gaining sessions which netted Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index 34.08 points, or 4.05 percent, corrective pressure is returning to the market with investors trying to cash in for short-term gains, analysts say.

Cautious sentiment caused the VN-Index to fluctuate within a small band of 1.5 points above and below its opening price of 876.46 points before it slid nearly five points in the afternoon session.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 258 tickers lose and 131 gain. Total transaction volume remained far below last month’s average of 6.67 trillion ($287 million), reaching VND4.48 trillion ($192.77 million) this session.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps went down 0.99 percent, with 24 stocks losing and 6 gaining.

Topping losses this session were tickers of three private banks. TCB of Techcombank tumbled 2.4 percent, STB of Sacombank, 2.1 percent and HDB of HDBank, 2 percent.

They were followed by VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, down 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent respectively. These are both subsidiaries of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, Vingroup, represented by the ticker VIC, which actually gained 0.4 percent.

Vietnam’s three biggest banks by assets, CTG of VietinBank, VCB of Vietcombank and BID of BIDV shed 1.2 percent, 1.1 percent, and 0.2 percent respectively. MBB of mid-sized Military Bank fell 1.1 percent.

Other major losing stocks this session were HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and NVL of real estate developer Novaland, both down 1.4 percent, MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, down 1.3 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, 1.2 percent.

In the opposite direction, SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar and POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power led gains with 0.7 percent each. However, both are among the smallest capped tickers on the VN30.

SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc. rose 0.6 percent, SAB of top brewer Sabeco added 0.5 percent, and BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group gained 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 0.87 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.16 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers to the tune of VND160 billion ($6.88 million) on all three bourses, with selling pressure mostly on HPG of Hoa Phat Group and VCB of Vietcombank.