HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares returned to negative territory on both local markets yesterday as investors remained worried about a possible US interest rate increase in June and slower recovery of China’s economy.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange retreated 1.2 per cent to finish at 604.34 points, erasing a two-day gain of 0.1 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange pulled back 0.3 per cent from Wednesday’s gain to close at 81.06 points.

Investor confidence was still negative amid fears that the US central bank may raise its interest rate for the first time since December. Such concerns have strengthened the dollar against other currencies on the global currency market.

Meanwhile, investor confidence was also dampened as other markets across Asia finished lower than Wednesday as China’s latest economic data proved the second-largest economy was recovering at a slower pace after a promising start to the year.

Such low investor confidence forced Việt Nam’s central bank to hike its daily reference mid-point rate for exchange trading band between the đồng and the dollar by VNĐ3 to VNĐ21,924 for a dollar, the highest since the beginning of the year, to keep local markets attractive enough to foreign investors.

As a result, blue chips suffered from gloomy investor confidence, such as dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), property developer Vingroup JSC (VIC), and insurers Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) and PVI Holdings (PVI).

VNM lost 2.1 per cent, MSN fell 1.4 per cent, VIC dropped 1.9 per cent, BVH slid 2.5 per cent and PVI continued the trend by edging down 0.4 per cent.

Among other big listed companies, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai JSC (HAG) and HAGL Agricultural JSC (HNG) tumbled 3.7 per cent and 4.9 per cent, respectively, after Hoàng Anh Gia Lai JSC put an end to its hi-tech cattle raising project in the central highland province of Kon Tum.

The banking sector was also a focus yesterday as all biggest banks declined, including Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), the Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB) and Sacombank (STB). These banks slipped between 1.2 per cent and 2.2 per cent.

On a positive note, energy stocks such as PetroVietnam Coating Corp (PVB), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Service Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Service Corp (PVS) made improvements after global oil prices hit a seven-month high during yesterday session.

Both local markets traded more than 161 million shares worth VNĐ2.6 trillion (US$116.2 million), a 6.8-per-cent decrease from Wednesday’s trading value. — VNS