Vincom Centre in Phạm Ngọc Thạch Street, Hà Nội. Recovery of Vingroup (VIC)'s shares at the last trading minutes helped cushion the VN-Index yesterday.  —VNS Photo Mai Hương

HÀ NỘI — Shares extended the downturn on both national stock exchanges but the recovery of large caps in the last trading minutes helped narrow the losses.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched down 0.06 per cent to close Thursday at 1,053.66 points, widening the three-day loss to more than 3 per cent.

Market breadth was negative with the number of losers outnumbering the gainers by 276-143 and 165 closed flat.

Liquidity decreased slightly but remained high, totalling nearly 721 million shares worth VNĐ12.1 trillion (US$512 million), down 11 per cent in volume and 5 per cent in value compared to Wednesday’s figures.

The recovery in the afternoon session was driven by billion-dollar stocks such as Vingroup (VIC), steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG), brewer Sabeco (SAB), dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), BIDV (BID) and Vietcombank (VCB). The gain in these stocks helped restore investors’ confidence in other smaller stocks.

VIC had been traded below the reference price for most of the trading time but was suddenly pulled back at the ATC (At-The-Close) time (10 minutes prior to close). Though it failed to gain, as the fourth largest listed company, it helped cushion the VN-Index’s fall.

The banking group was also on the supportive side with 12 gainers and only four decliners on the southern bourse. BIDV, VCB and Vietinbank (CTG) rose 1.2 per cent, 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively. Smaller banks such as Techcombank (TCB), Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB), TienPhongBank (TPB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Vietnam International Bank (VIB) leaped between 1.6 per cent and 2.2 per cent, each.

Foreign investors were on the sell side, however, when they were responsible for a net sell value of nearly VNĐ700 billion, focusing on Vinhomes (VHM), Vincom Retail (VRE), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and VNDirect Securities Co (VND).

According to analysts at Viet Dragon Securities Co (VDSC), high liquidity showed rising supply and put great pressure on the market.

“As the market’s bearish inertia is present, the market may continue to retreat in the next session. However, temporarily, we can expect a short-term pause signal at the support level of 1,035-1,045 points and there will be fluctuations to explore supply and demand in the near future,” VDSC’s market analyst Phương Nguyễn said in a daily note.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also declined for a third day, decreasing 0.31 per cent to end at 209.31 points. The northern bourse’s index lost 3 per cent in the past three days.

Liquidity dropped to 82 million shares worth VNĐ1.3 trillion, down 27 per cent in both volume and value from Wednesday’s levels.

Foreign traders concluded as net buyers here but for a modest value of VNĐ2.6 billion. — VNS