A customer at Vietcombank's transaction office in Hậu Giang Province. The bank shares surged in the afternoon trade, lifting the market benchmark VN-Index. VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Thái

HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices traded differently on Thursday, as selling pressure countered risky asset demand. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) picked up slightly 4.39 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 1,254.15 points. It fell in the morning trade due to rising sell-off force.

The market’s breadth was positive, while liquidity was still low. Accordingly, investors poured over VNĐ17 trillion (US$726.8 million) into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 724.75 million shares. 

The index escaped the downtrend thanks to the breakthrough of Vietcombank (VCB) and increases in some pillar stocks, and set a fourth straight daily gain. The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks by market capitalisation on HoSE, rose 7.9 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 1,277.73 points. 

Sixteen stocks of the VN30 basket jumped, while 11 declined and three ended unchanged. 

Data compiled by financial website vietstock.vn showed that banking and realty sectors led the bullish sentiment on the market. Of which Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest gainer, up 3.77 per cent, followed by Vinhomes (VHM), Novaland (NVL), Becamex (BCM) and VPBank (VPB), with 1.4-3.02 per cent increases.

Petrolimex (PLX), FPT Corporation (FPT) and Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) also posted strong performance of at least 1.5 per cent. 

The rally was restricted by persistent selling pressure, weighing on stocks in energy and manufacturing industries. 

In the top three stocks weighing on market sentiment, PV Gas (GAS) lost the most, down 2.68 per cent. The other two ticker symbols were Masan Group (MSN) and Sabeco (SAB), with a 1.9-2.6 per cent decease. 

The VN-Index is expected to continue to struggle under rising short-term selling pressure, heading toward the strong resistance zone of 1,255 points -1,260 points in the future, said analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC. From a long-term perspective, the market is still forming an accumulation area with valuations at a low level compared to the multi-year average, as economic growth is maintained.

Meanwhile, on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index settled down yesterday. It finished the trade at 297.73 points, down 0.38 points, or 0.13 per cent.

During the session, nearly 95.2 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth over VNĐ1.8 trillion. 

Foreign capital also ran at a low amount as they net bought VNĐ59.8 billion on HoSE, but net sold VNĐ16.84 billion on HNX. VNS