While the session ended with a 0.27-point increase, the benchmark index had risen as much as 16 points in the morning before these gains dissipated in the afternoon.

152 stocks gained on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), Vietnam’s main bourse, while 214 lost. Trading volume rose nearly 10 percent over the previous session, to VND3.77 trillion ($158.48 million), with order-matched transactions accounting for 67.9 percent.

Although the market had dropped steeply by 4.86 points Monday, liquidity remained low this session, indicating that investors are fed up with recent developments and are choosing to withdraw from the market for passive observation, according to brokerage firm Saigon – Hanoi Securities.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest caps shed 0.37 points this session, with 16 losers and 13 gainers.

Four stocks closed at their floor prices, two of which were private mid-sized banks: EIB of Eximbank shed 6.7 percent, and VPB of VPBank, 6.9 percent. The other two were ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros and CTD of construction giant Coteccons, both dropping 6.9 percent.

ROS, after free-falling for eight straight sessions, closed at VND3,260 ($0.14) Tuesday afternoon, its lowest point since the real estate developer listed in September 2019. The stock had peaked in late 2017 at VND180,000 ($7.76), but is now worth 55 times less and has become the smallest capped stock on the VN30 at VND1.85 trillion ($79.74 million).

Banking stocks were split this session with four more losing and three gaining. STB of private Sacombank tumbled 4.5 percent, and state owned lenders CTG of VietinBank, MBB of Military Bank and BID of BIDV lost 1.8 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.

In the green, HDB of HDBank topped gains on the VN30 with 3.2 percent, followed by VCB of state-owned Vietcombank with 1.6 percent, and TCB of Techcombank at 0.7 percent.

Food and beverages were mostly in the red this session, with SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar down 1.4 percent, VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk and MSN of food conglomerate Masan both down 0.2 percent. SAB of major brewer Sabeco went up 1.6 percent, though.

Some major gainers this session included HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, up 3.1 percent, BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet, 2.8 percent, and VIC of Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate and the largest capped stock on HoSE, up 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and midcap stocks, shed 0.69 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for unlisted public companies added 0.23 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND415 billion ($17.42 million) on all three bourses, with selling pressure mostly on MSN of Masan Group and VNM of Vinamilk.