Investors keep track of market movements. The VN Index ended slightly lower at 663.5 points. — Photo vnmedia.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares were mixed yesterday with moderate trading liquidity as investors chose to stand by on a lack of market information.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) ended slightly lower at 663.5 points. The southern market index gained 0.2 per cent on Tuesday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) rebounded 0.2 per cent to close at 79.03 points after sliding 0.5 per cent the previous day.

Order-matching trading was modest with more than 124.5 million shares, worth VNĐ2.2 trillion (US$98.3 million), being exchanged on the two local exchanges.

Put-through trading orders remained positive with more than VNĐ429.57 billion worth of shares traded.

The stock market was pulled down by poor performances of large-cap stocks on both local bourses such as property and retail firm Vingroup JSC (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB) and PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) on HOSE and insurer PVI Holdings (PVI) and Việt Nam Construction Import-Export Corp (VCG) on the HNX.

“The market seems to lack motivation to increase during the remaining session of this year as money is kept off trading and focusses on some industries with high growth prospects such as the steel industry and the real estate sector,” BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said in a note.

Steel production was boosted by demand from investors for Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Tiến Lên Steel JSC (TLH). These stocks advanced 1 per cent, 2.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.

In the real estate business, the gainers included FLC Group (FLC), Hoàng Quân Consulting – Trading – Service Real Estate Corporation (HQC) and Sài Gòn Thương Tín Real Estate JSC (SCR).

Among these stocks, FLC Group surged 6.9 per cent after the group reported that its whole-year profit will exceed the targeted number of VNĐ1.2 trillion.

Large-cap property developer Novaland Investment Group Corp (NVL) yesterday soared 20 per cent on its debut on the southern bourse.

“The listing of Novaland will attract money from investors as the group has confirmed its position and reputation on the domestic real estate market and its products are highly competitive because the projects are located in key areas with reasonable scales,” Bảo Việt Securities Corp (BVSC) wrote in a report.

The market condition will possibly see “big changes during the rest of this week, the ending period of this year, as investors will stand by due to the year-end period,” BVSC said. — VNS