HÀ NỘI — The benchmark VN-Index declined for the first time this week, closing Thursday’s trade down 0.44 per cent at 750.13 points on the HCM Stock Exchange.

Shares of big companies operating in the banking, real estate and food-beverage sectors tumbled under rising profit taking pressure.

Five of six listed lender on the HCM City exchange lost value of between 1 per cent and 1.8 per cent. Four of the five decliners were among the top 10 biggest shares by market value, thus their slumps dragged down the market.

Sacombank (STB) was the only bank share seeing growth on Thursday, up 2.6 per cent. The share price rose 11.3 per cent this week following the information late last week that FTSE ETF had added STB shares into its portfolio for the next quarter together with real estate company Novaland Investment Group (NVL).

Many large-cap stocks in top 30 shares by market value also fell and weighed down the market, including Vinamilk (VNM), brewery Sabeco (SAB), FLC Faros Construction (ROS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service (PVD), Masan Group (MSN), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG)

The VN-Index rose about 2 per cent this week and profit-taking pressure increased on stocks that marked substantial growth in the previous rally.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged down 0.22 per cent to end at 97.25 points.

Liquidity increased with a total of 337.2 million shares worth nearly VNĐ6 trillion (US$262.8 million) traded on the two exchanges, up 10.7 per cent in volume and 3.4 per cent in value compared to Wednesday’s figures.

According to analysts at Vietnam Investment Securities Co, the overall market condition remained stable but big gainers from the past rally are under profit-taking pressure.

“Money is still flowing in the market and opportunities will likely appear with shares showing potential growth,” they wrote in a note, adding the market was preparing to receive information related to second-quarter business results, which would impact market movements.

On the positive side, the market was cushioned by growth of several large-cap stocks such as Hậu Giang Pharmaceutical (DHG), VinGroup (VIC), IT firm FPT Group (FPT), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Mobile World Group (MWG).

Hậu Giang Pharmaceutical hit the daily limit rise of 7 per cent at VNĐ119,900 a share on the HCM City exchange.

Foreign traders remained net buyers in the HCM City market for nearly VNĐ50 billion but they were responsible for a net sell value of VNĐ3.2 billion in Hà Nội’s market. — VNS