Part of the Thi Vai liquefied natural gas (LNG) warehouse and terminal complex, which is operated by PV Gas. The company's shares jumped more than 2.5 per cent on Thursday, cushioning the market's downtrend. — Photo pvgas.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The stock market was mixed on Thursday as investors took profits after shares posted strong gains in the previous session. Meanwhile, foreign investors net sold more than VNĐ900 billion on the main exchange.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index finished lower at 1,264.26 points, down 6.25 points, or 0.49 per cent, but still hovering near a more than one year high.

It had soared over 25.5 points to the highest in 18 months on Wednesday.

More stocks performed poorly on the southern bourse. Of which, 162 ticker symbols declined while 156 inched higher.

The liquidity, however, stayed above US$1 billion.

The group of 30 biggest stocks also traded negatively. The VN30-Index fell 11.96 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 1,260.32 points.

In the VN30 basket, 22 stocks ticked down, four inched up and four stayed flat.

The benchmark’s reversal was mainly driven by the rising selling force following two significant consecutive increases.

After surpassing the 1,270-point milestone, the VN-Index is anticipated to continue its upward trend, with expectations of soon breaching the 1,300-point mark.

Several securities firms believe that investor confidence is also on the rise as market liquidity improved along with the index.

Pillar stocks in the banking industry continued to influence the market’s bearish movement.

Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest loser in market capitalisation today, down 1.04 points.

BIDV (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG), the other two state-owned commercial banks in the Big4, also posted great losses of 1.71 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.

Also weighing on the market, manufacturing stocks faced strong sell-off, with Hoa Phat Group (HPG) down 1.46 per cent, Masan Group (MSN) falling 2.47 per cent and Petro Viet Nam Ca Mau Fertiliser JSC (DCM) dropping 1.65 per cent.

The losses were limited by the gains of some big names, led by PV Gas (GAS). Shares of the company climbed 2.53 per cent, followed by VinGroup (VIC) and Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), up 2.11 per cent and 1.55 per cent, respectively.

In contrast, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) extended rallies to finish higher at 239.68 points. It gained 1.48 points, or 0.62 per cent, on Thursday.

During the session, more than 168.6 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ3.6 trillion.

Foreign capital continued to see strong outflows from the market as foreign investors net sold VNĐ911.36 billion on HoSE. However, they still net bought over VNĐ103 billion on HNX. — VNS