HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares were volatile yesterday while energy stocks extended losses on lower crude prices.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 0.3 per cent to close at 658.50 points, down from a two-session gain of 0.5 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange managed to rise 0.2 per cent to end at 83.32 points. The northern market index has climbed a total 0.8 per cent in the last three days.

“Most energy stocks extended losses as investors’ confidence was harmed after crude prices fell again,” Maritime Securities Inc (MSI) wrote in its daily report.

On global exchanges, London-traded Brent crude edged down 0.6 per cent to trade at US$48.75 a barrel. Brent has fallen 4.2 per cent from a month high of $50.89 a barrel on August 18.

In the local energy industry, PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) dropped 2.4 per cent, PetroVietnam Coating Corp (PVB)  lost 1.1 per cent and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) decreased by 1.4 per cent.

Property developer Vingroup JSC (VIC), Vietinbank (CTG) and Tiền Phong Plastic JSC (NTP) were other stocks that contributed to the market’s decline.

Other blue chips such as Vietcombank (VCB) remained flat and hardly provided any support for the market.

VCB on Tuesday announced that the bank would issue nearly 933 million bonus shares for shareholders with a ratio of 35 per cent. Shareholder will receive 35 bonus shares for every 100 shares they own. The number of issued shares is worth nearly VNĐ9.3 trillion ($414.58 million).

“The share issuance could help VCB rise in short-term trading,” Bảo Việt Securities Corp (BVSC) wrote in a note.

“The rise of VCB is expected to help push market up in the near future as VCB is one of the main driving factors of the stock market.”

Foreign investors continued to end up as net sellers with a recorded net sell value of nearly VNĐ70 billion on both local exchanges ahead of the US central bank’s Friday meeting in which the bank may raise interest rates in September, the first rate hike since December 2015.

Việt Nam’s central bank yesterday increased the daily reference mid-point rate by VNĐ14 to VNĐ21,898 for a dollar, an action that would help protect local exports against a weaker dollar recently.

Nearly 148.5 million shares were exchanged worth nearly VNĐ3 trillion – an increase of 7 per cent from Wednesday’s trading value. — VNS