HÀ NỘI — Shares lost ground on Thursday with strong selling due to weakened market sentiment over the Ukraine crisis.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 1.15 per cent to close at 1,494.85 points.

The index had gained 0.59 per cent to close Wednesday at 1,512.30 points.

The market's breadth turned negative with 396 stocks declining, while 75 rose.

Liquidity reached a new record with more than 1.16 billion shares traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ35 trillion (US$1.5 billion).

The 30 biggest stocks tracking VN30-Index dropped 1.09 per cent to 1,522.04 points. Twenty-five in the VN30 basket decreased, while five increased.

In the VN-30 basket, losers were HDBank (HDB) down 4.2 per cent, Sacombank (STB) down 4 per cent, Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) down 3.5 per cent, Liên Việt Post Bank (LPB) down 3.8 per cent, Vingroup (VIC) down 3.5 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) down 3.2 per cent, Hòa Phát Group (HPG) down 1.5 per cent, PVPower (POW) down 2.2 per cent, and Vinamilk (VNM) down 1.8 per cent.

Banking stocks were sold strongly and pressured the indices, including Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), Sacombank (STB), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) and Military Bank (MBB).

Real estate and construction stocks experienced a dramatic drop in prices on Thursday as a series of large-cap stocks declined such as Tasco Joint Stock Company (HUT), LDG Investment JSC (LDG), Licogi 14 JSC (L14), Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG), C.E.O Group JSC (CEO), Đất Xanh Group JSC (DXG), Hồ Chí Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) and DRH Holdings JSC (DRH).

Nineteen out of 25 sector indices on the stock market lost ground, including real estate, retail, banking, agriculture, rubber processing, seafood processing, construction materials and logistics, securities, healthcare, food and beverage, and construction.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) decreased 1.73 per cent, to 434.88 points. The index had increased 1.87 per cent to close Wednesday at 442.54 points.

During the trading session, investors poured VNĐ4.7 trillion into the northern market, equivalent to a trading volume of 159 million shares. — VNS