A consumer picking up a Vinamilk product. The dairy producer's shares plummeted on Thursday, threatening the market's sentiment. Photo vinamilk.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Indices ended lower on Thursday as stronger risk-off sentiment weighed on the market, with the VN-Index posting the second daily fall.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index declined by 4.43 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 1,252.07 points. It closed the morning trade on a positive note, with a gain of 5.93 points, or 0.47 per cent.

The market's breadth was negative with 319 stocks dropping, while 136 stocks picked up. However, liquidity increased sharply over the previous session, of which matching value on the southern bourse jumped 36 per cent to VNĐ17.3 trillion (US$737.7 million), equal to a matching volume of 765 million shares. 

The benchmark index reversed the morning's course due to rising selling pressure in the afternoon trade that triggered big losses in many large-cap stocks. 

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, was also down 4.82 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 1,272.33 points. In the VN30 basket, 11 stocks edged higher, while 17 slid and two stayed unchanged. 

Data compiled by financial website vietstock.vn showed that Novaland (NVL) posted the biggest fall and led the downtrend. NVL plunged by 2.28 per cent. It was followed by Vinamilk (VNM), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), VPBank (VPB) and MBBank (MBB), down at least 1.47 per cent. 

The index was also weighed by the pullback of Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG) and Techcombank (TCB).

However, losses were capped by rallies in pillar stocks, of which Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest gainer with an increase of 1.24 per cent. Gains in PV Gas (GAS) and Vingroup (VIC) also weakened the downside risk. 

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) ended the four-day gaining streak on Thursday, down 3.36 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 300.18 points.

During the trade, nearly 128.8 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth nearly VNĐ2.56 trillion. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors were net buyers on both main exchanges on Thursday, with a total value of nearly VNĐ130 billion. Specifically, they net bought VNĐ74.43 billion on HoSE and VNĐ55.47 billion on HNX. VNS