Outside a transaction office of SeABank. The lender's shares logged the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent on Thursday, cushioning the market's downturn. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices experienced a volatile first session on Thursday after the extended National Day holiday, with selling pressure across banking and securities stocks pushing the VN-Index close to the 1,800-point mark before bargain hunting helped narrow losses in the afternoon.

The VN-Index, representing the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE), closed down 4.40 points at 1,827.72 points.

Selling pressure emerged early in the session, quickly sending the VN-Index into negative territory. At its intraday low, the index fell to 1,802.11 points, more than 30 points below the reference level.

Market breadth was negative, as 236 stocks declined and 93 gained. Meanwhile, trading value reached VNĐ17.46 trillion (US$670 million).

A notable feature was the sharp divergence among large-cap stocks, with strength in a handful of heavyweight shares offsetting substantial declines elsewhere.

Vingroup (VIC) emerged as the most important pillar supporting the benchmark. The stock closed 3.6 per cent higher and contributed nearly 14.3 points to the VN-Index.

Other stocks also helped cushion the decline. SeABank (SSB) contributed 0.88 points to the index, while Vinhomes (VHM) gained 0.55 per cent and added another 0.69 points.

PetroVietnam Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) rose 1.13 per cent, contributing 0.32 points, while PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertiliser (DCM) jumped 5.67 per cent and added 0.2 points to the index.

In contrast, banking stocks were among the biggest drags on the market.

Vietcombank (VCB) was the largest negative contributor, falling 2.33 per cent and taking 2.4 points off the VN-Index.

Techcombank (TCB) declined 3.89 per cent, costing the benchmark another 1.9 points, while VPBank (VPB) dropped 3.06 per cent and erased 1.39 points.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also fell 2.53 points to 282.24 points. More than 45 million shares were traded on the northorn bourse, worth nearly 747.5 million. 

Foreign investor activity also attracted attention as overseas investors returned to strong net selling. They net sold more than VNĐ1.53 trillion on HoSE and nearly VNĐ52.4 million on HNX.

VCB recorded the largest foreign net outflow at more than VNĐ215 billion. — BIZHUB/VNS