The benchmark VN-Index had hovered above its 869.13-point opening price for most of Wednesday’s trading session, but dived over 14 points, or 1.6 percent, within the final hour of trading, as selling orders piled in.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, burned red with 258 stocks losing and 127 gaining. Total transaction volume shot up 23 percent over the previous session, reaching VND6.69 trillion ($286.61 million).

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest capped stocks also dived 1.67 percent, with 21 stocks losing and only five gaining. VN30 shares accounted for over half of the total trading on HoSE this session.

Leading losers were BID of BIDV, one of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, down 5.2 percent. Of the other two, CTG of VietinBank was among the biggest losers with 3.2 percent, while VCB of Vietcombank bucked the trend by gaining 0.5 percent.

All but one private banking stock lost this session. VPB of VPBank dropped 4.8 percent, STB of Sacombank, 2.9 percent, HDB of HDBank, 2.7 percent and TCB of Techombank, shed 1.2 percent, while EIB of Eximbank rose 1.8 percent.

Other major losing stocks included HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, down 4.2 percent, VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, 3.8 percent, BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., both down 2.9 percent.

Oil and gas were a mixed bag with POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power shedding 2.8 percent and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex keeping its opening price, while GAS of energy giant Petrovietnam Gas edged up 0.1 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the biggest capped stock on HoSE, kept its opening price this session, while VHM of its real estate subsidiary Vinhomes and HoSE’s third biggest cap slumped 2.2 percent.

In the opposite direction, CTD of construction giant Coteccons topped gains in a 6.9 percent surge, its ceiling price. The stock currently trades at VND74,100 ($3.18) per share, an increase of 60 percent over its value late March, despite the company reporting falling revenues and profits as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the stock has been performing well in the past few weeks, CTD had been trading at a much higher price two years ago, when it peaked at VND239,000 ($10.27) in mid-November 2017.

Since then, the stock had been gradually sliding as it reports quarter after quarter of declining profits, citing rising costs of construction materials, labour, and competition from new entrants in the construction industry.

NVL of real estate developer Novaland was the only other stock that rose this session, up 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange fell 1.45 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market slipped 0.72 percent.

Foreign investors continued to be net sellers on all three bourses to the tune of VND120 billion ($5.16 million), with selling pressure mostly HPG of Hoa Phat Group and VRE of Vincom Retail.