The index started the day in the red and plunged by 26 points in the early afternoon before rising to close with a nine-point drop. This is its biggest loss in a day since June 16.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 7.6 percent to VND28.04 trillion, the highest in nearly four weeks.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, was dominated by red with 22 tickers losing, led by VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail, hitting its floor price with a 6.9 percent drop.

The ticker is now at the lowest level in over a month. It has fallen 22 percent from its peak in January.

GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas fell 4.8 percent and contributed most to the fall of VN-Index, bringing it down by 2.4 points.

NVL of real estate developer Novaland Group fell 3.4 percent, its third consecutive loss.

REE of industrial appliance maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation also fell 3.4 percent to the lowest in nearly a month.

Eight tickers bucked the trend, led by TCB of largest private lender Techcombank with a 6.8 percent gain, followed by MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World, up 6.2 percent and TPB of private TPBank, up 4.1 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the sixth session in a row to the tune of VND647 billion, with strongest pressure on CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and NVL.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 0.08 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market dropped 0.19 percent.