Corrugated iron sheets produced by Hòa Phát Group. The company's shares lost 2.4 per cent yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Kiên

HÀ NỘI — Shares moved in opposite directions on the two national stock exchanges but liquidity continued to increase, pouring into mid- and small-cap stocks.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchanged edged down 0.18 per cent to close Thursday at 1,462.35 points. The southern bourse’s index increased 0.24 per cent on Wednesday.

Nearly 1.3 billion shares worth VNĐ38.1 trillion (US$1.7 billion) were traded on the southern exchange, up 28.4 per cent in volume and 28.3 per cent in value compared to the previous session.

Blue chips underperformed compared to the general market, however, and were behind the market downturn. The VN30 which tracked the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity decreased 0.62 per cent to 1,514,36 points.

Eight of the top 10 shares by market capitalisation lost value, topping the list was steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) which was down 2.4 per cent; followed by Vinhomes (VHM), down 1.3 per cent and PV Gas (GAS), down 1.2 per cent. They were also the three stocks weighing on the VN-Index the most.

On the bright side, Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) increased nearly 2 per cent, topping the shares that have positive impacts on the index. Other big supporters included Mobile World Investment (MWG), up 2.7 per cent and Vietcombank (VCB), up 0.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, money continued to flow into mid- and small-caps, pushing the VS-Mid Cap and VS-Small Cap up more than 1 per cent each.

According to Nguyễn Kim Chi, a senior investor and founder of Hello Stock investment community, the prolonged pandemic has negatively impacted profits of large enterprises, especially banking groups with problems such as bad debts and credit growth. Many banks have sharply reduced lending rates and accepted a partial reduction in profits to support people and enterprises.

In addition, big companies in the retail consumer segment such as Vincom Retail (VRE) and Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ) recorded a big decrease in revenue in the third quarter, down 55 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively.

“Psychologically, investors cut their portfolio and exited large-cap groups. Besides, prices of these stock groups have increased strongly in the past uptrends so technical adjustments are needed to establish a more reasonable level,” Chi was quoted as saying on stockbiz.vn.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched up 0.11 per cent to end the day at 438.73 points. Liquidity also increased here with the trading volume rising 24 per cent to more than 190 million shares while value of trades increased 14.3 per cent to VNĐ4.7 trillion.

Foreign traders remained net sellers on the two exchanges. They focused on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange with a value of more than VNĐ1.2 trillion while the net sell value on Hà Nội’s bourse was only VNĐ10 billion.

Vinhomes and Hòa Phát Group were the two stocks being offloaded the most with net sell value of VNĐ295 billlion and VNĐ151 billion, respectively. — VNS