HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares fell on Thursday as strong selling pressure weighed down large-cap stocks and listed firms suffered from negative news of the macro-economy.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.29 per cent to close at 963.50 points, retreating from a nearly one per cent increase made on Wednesday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange narrowed its gain form as much as 1.1 per cent to 0.12 per cent to end the session at 107.80 points. The northern market index has risen total 2.1 per cent in the last three days.

More than 207.8 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ4.9 trillion (US$217 million).

The trading figures were up 3.6 per cent in volume and 14.6 per cent in value compared to Wednesday.

The decline of the stock market on Thursday was mostly due to the “profit-taking of the investors who invested in the bottom as well as loss cutting of those who invested in the last few months,” BIDV Securities JSC (BSC) said in its daily report.

The three key industries – real estate, energy and banking – were the major factors to weigh down the overall performance of the market.

Those sector indices fell between 0.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Bank stocks were hit by profit taking. Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) dropped 1.2 per cent after having made a four-day rally of total 11.4 per cent.

Others such as Vietcombank (VCB), Techcombank (TCB) and MBBank (MBB) also ended in negative territory.

Energy stocks headed down following a slump of oil prices on Wednesday night. Brent crude lost 3.2 per cent to finish Wednesday at $72.28 a barrel.

Among energy stocks that suffered from the drop in oil prices were PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), PetroVietnam Coating Corp (PVB), and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).

Property developers such as Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), HCM City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) and FLC Group (FLC) might be affected by a stronger determination of the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) to tighten credit growth in the remaining months of the year.

“This is bad news for the stock market as monetary policy orientation of the SBV has been closely correlated with money flows running into the stock market,” Bảo Việt Securities JSC (BVSC) said in its report.

On the opposite side, insurance companies, brokerages, information and technology firms, and food and beverage producers were among those that supported the market.

Positive outlook would continue for local stocks in coming sessions as cash flow increased despite the market’s decline, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities JSC (SHS) said.

Thursday’s fall was seen as a technical correction of the market, not a sign of the market starting its downtrend, SHS said, adding that the market may continue rising to 970 points in coming sessions. — VNS