BIDV logo on its office building in Hà Nội. The bank's shares jumped on Thursday, cushioning the market's losses.  — VNS Photo Ly Ly Cao

HÀ NỘI — The market retreated on Thursday as some investors seized the chance to take profit from the previous rally, while liquidity decreased and foreign investors continued to be net sellers. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index declined by 2.94 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 1,037.61 points. It soared nearly 16 points, or 1.55 per cent, on Wednesday. 

The breadth of the market was negative, while liquidity was also lower than the previous session. Specifically, a matching value on the southern bourse dropped 10.4 per cent to VNĐ6.36 trillion (US$268.2 million), equal to a trading volume of more than 373.1 million shares. 

The index's reversal was due to weak sentiment and profit-taking activities of some investors, leading to losses of many large-cap stocks. 

The VN30-Index also posted a fall of 5.7 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 1,028.73 points. Of the VN30 basket, 20 out of the 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE inched down, while nine ticker symbols gained and one was flat. 

Sabeco (SAB), Vietinbank (CTG), Masan Group (MSN), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Vincom Retail (VRE) were the top five stocks with the greatest losses on Thursday, dominating the downward trend. The stocks slid in a range of 1.44-2.24 per cent. 

The bearish trend was limited by gains of some pillar stocks, led by one of the Big 4 banks - BIDV with an increase of 1.64 per cent in market cap. 

Similarly, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) also witnessed poor performance on Thursday. It ended the trading day at 206.14 points, a dip of 0.69 points, or 0.33 per cent. 

During the session, more than 40.1 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ595.09 billion. 

Foreign investors continued to run away from the market as they net sold VNĐ120.16 billion on HoSE, while bought a net value of VNĐ1.7 billion on HNX.

Last month, both benchmark indices posted a monthly fall, of which the VN-Index lost 7.8 per cent and the HNX-Index was down 9 per cent. 

The market's liquidity was also weak in February, with an average trading volume and value of nearly 567.7 million shares and over VNĐ10 trillion, down 2.14 per cent in average volume and 4.6 per cent on-month, respectively.

The total trading value of foreign investors reached over VNĐ48.4 trillion during the period, accounting for more than 12.08 per cent of the total trading value of the whole market. Foreign investors were net sellers last month with a net sell value of more than VNĐ571.8 billion. — VNS