HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares struggled to remain upbeat yesterday as energy producers lost momentum after crude prices declined on Tuesday.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange ended almost flat at 682.45 points, maintaining a 1.2 per cent gain after two sessions.

“The energy sector yesterday posted losses as global crude prices fell on Tuesday. Russian producers were unwilling to cut their production, though the government had reached an agreement with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for an output cut,” BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) wrote in its daily report.

US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 1.1 per cent to close Tuesday at US$50.79 a barrel. London-traded Brent crude was down 1.4 per cent to end at $52.41 a barrel.

Top oil and gas producers on the Vietnamese stock market, including PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD), dropped between 0.7 per cent and 2.1 per cent.

Steelmakers such as Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Nam Kim Steel JSC (NKG) turned back to the downward trend after having a positive session on Tuesday, following news that some countries will impose anti-dumping tax on Việt Nam’s steel products.

HPG was down 2.6 per cent, HSG fell 1.7 per cent and NKG declined by 2.3 per cent.

Other large-cap stocks such as insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), Vietcombank (VCB) and consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN) ended in negative territory, losing between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index edged up 0.4 per cent to close at 84.89 points, rebounding from a three-day decline of 1.7 per cent.

Stocks that lifted the northern market index included Việt Nam Construction and Import-Export Corp (VCG), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB). Those shares gained between 1.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent.

Market trading liquidity declined after a series of active trading sessions, proving that investor confidence was quite low, BSC said.

Nearly 161 million shares were traded across the trading board, worth VND2.5 trillion ($111 million) – a decrease of more than 28.5 per cent from Tuesday’s trading value.

Mid-cap and small-cap stocks were attractive to investors. Property company FLC Group (FLC) was the most active stock with nearly 21 million shares being traded. FLC yesterday closed up 2.3 per cent. — VNS