The index climbed 16 points in the morning but quickly fell to end with a 4-point decrease.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, made another new peak this year at VND23.47 trillion ($1.02 billion). The bourse saw 113 tickers gain and 312 lose.

Nearly 1.03 million shares were traded on the HoSE, surpassing the 713 million shares record in December.

VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup was an exceptional blue-chip in this session with a 6.6 percent gain after news reports of a potential initial public offering of its automaking unit VinFast in the U.S.

The ticker pushed VN-Index up by nearly 8 points, though it still ended in the red partly due to large selling pressure on three state-owned banks, which together pulled it down by 3.7 points.

CTG of VietinBank fell 2.7 percent after hitting a new historic peak Monday. It was the top net-sold ticker by foreign investors.

BID of BIDV dropped 2.5 percent and VCB of Vietcombank, 1.4 percent.

Some major blue-chip losers included TCH of real estate company Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services, down 5 percent, and STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank, down 3.2 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers to the tune of VND127 billion, with strongest pressure on VIC and MSN of conglomerate Masan Group.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 1.13 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market dropped 1.15 percent.