A customer buys petrol at a petrol station of Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) on Hà Nội's Trần Hưng Đạo Street. PLX lost 1 per cent on Thursday. VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares extended losses on Thursday as large-cap stocks in a series of industries suffered selling pressure, especially banking, securities and energy.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index lost 0.01 per cent to close at 1,172.81 points. The index had declined 0.09 per cent, to close Wednesday at 1,172.98 points.

Nearly 770 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ16.4 trillion (US$694 million).

The market's breadth returned to a negative zone with more stocks losing points. There were 252 gainers and 201 losers.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index gained 0.26 per cent, to 1,168.26 points. In the VN30 basket, 13 stocks increased, while 13 declined. The other four stocks finished flat.

The banking group lost ground with losers including Vietinbank (CTG), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), VIB Bank (VIB) and Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), National Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NVB), Vietcombank (VCB), Military Bank (MBB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Techcombank (TCB), and Sacombank (STB).

VPBank (VPB) was the only gainer in the banking group.

Energy stocks were also hit strongly with Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Bình Sơn Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR), PV Power (POW), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) all falling.

Securities stocks decreased towards the end of the session. VN-Index's loss was significantly broadened as securities stocks declined strongly, such as SSI Securities Co (SSI), Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), Việt Capital Incorporation (VCI), Agribank Securities Corporation (AGR) and APG Securities Joint Stock Company (APG).

“The market ended a day of gaining with a slight decrease and increased liquidity. In general, the market was still in a state of tension, but the supply increased more than the previous session,” said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

“The positive point is that this supply has not put too much pressure on the market yet. With profit taking gradually increasing, it is likely that the market will temporarily step back and need time to retest the support money flow around the support area of 1,165 points.”

“Therefore, investors still need to observe market movements to assess the effort of cash flow. At the moment, it is possible to continue holding stocks with good signals from the accumulation base or buying stocks that retreat to the support base.

“However, it is still necessary to consider taking profits at stocks that have risen rapidly to the resistance zone or are under selling pressure from the resistance zone to rebalance the portfolio,” it said.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) gained 0.69 per cent, to close Thursday at 233.07 points. It had gained 0.22 per cent, to close Wednesday at 231.47 points.

More than 87 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ1.4 trillion. — VNS