FPT Corporation (FPT)'s headquarters in Hà Nội. FPT lost 1.2 per cent yesterday. Photo FPT

HÀ NỘI Despite multiple attempts, the VN-Index was unable to sustain its upward momentum during the afternoon session on Thursday, resulting in a failure to maintain overall stability throughout the day.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.22 per cent to end at 1,227.31 points.

It had stayed flat at 1,230.04 points on Wednesday.

The market's breadth was negative with 217 stocks rising, while 263 slid.

Market liquidity declined compared to the previous session as investors poured over VNĐ18 trillion (US$731.4 million) into the southern exchange, equivalent to a trading volume of 840 million shares.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index lost 0.18 per cent, to end at 1,239.90 points. Sixteen in the VN30 basket decreased, while 13 increased.

In the VN-30 basket, the worst performers were Vinhomes (VHM), Hoà Phát Group (HPG), Mobile World Group (MWG), FPT Corporation (FPT) and Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH).

Some other blue-chips still gained ground and helped prevent the market from falling deeper, such as Vingroup (VIC), Vietjet (VJC) and Masan Group (MSN).

Banking stocks fell and put great pressure on the overall market, with losers including Sài Gòn Thương Tín Commercial Joint Stock Bank (STB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB) and VPBank (VPB).

On the other side, some bank stocks still attracted cash flow and gained ground, such as Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB), Vietinbank (CTG), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), Liên Việt Post Bank (LPB) and Techcombank (TCB).

"It is expected that disputes and adjustments may still appear in the next trading session, however the 1,220 point area is still the area that creates support for the market. In general, the market is still likely to approach the resistance area of 1,250 points," said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

"Therefore, investors need to evaluate the state of supply and demand in the market. Currently, you should prioritise stocks that are showing good signals from the support zone to hold or buy cumulatively, but you should take advantage of the opportunity to take profits on stocks that have increased rapidly to the resistance zone."

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 0.07 per cent to end Thursday at 234.01 points.

During the trading session, nearly 80.7 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VNĐ1.4 trillion. — VNS