HÀ NỘI — Shares recovered from morning losses on Wednesday, with large-cap stocks, especially steel and fertiliser shares, leading the way.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index edged up 0.33 per cent to close at 773.57 points. The key southern market index went down 0.66 per cent on Tuesday.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index picked up 0.44 per cent to end at 101.74 points. It inched down 0.2 per cent in the previous session.

Capital flows yesterday focused on the steel, fertiliser and construction sectors.

The two biggest listed steelmakers – Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) – increased 2.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively. Other small steel firms such as Nam Kim Steel (NKG), Vietnam-Italy Steel (VIS) and Tiến Lên Steel (TLH) rose between 0.4 per cent and 1.4 per cent each.

Big companies in the fertiliser and construction industries such as PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals (DPM), Cà Mau Fertiliser (DCM), FLC Faros Construction (ROS) and Coteccons Construction (CTD) also rallied.

Other large-cap stocks supporting the market included PV Gas (GAS), Masan Group (MSN), brewery Sabeco (SAB), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) and Mobile World Group (MWG).

On the negative side, banks weighed the market down. Losers included BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG) and Military Bank (MBB), three of the four largest listed lenders by market value.

According to FPT Securities Company, unexpected movements of several heavyweight stocks recently have impacted on forecasts of market trends.

“Obviously, the upswing of large-cap stocks is causing confusion, increasing the risk of a bulltrap,” market analysts at FPT Securities Co wrote in a note.

The VN30, which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the main bourse in HCM City, continued to rise higher than the benchmark VN-Index. It was up 0.44 per cent yesterday to close at 749.37 points.

Liquidity improved yesterday with nearly 212 million shares worth VNĐ3.64 trillion (US$160.4 million) traded in the two markets, up 6.3 per cent in volume and 4 per cent in value compared to Tuesday.

These levels however were still much lower than the average of more than 300 million shares with value of VNĐ4.7 trillion traded per session last week.

Foreign investors returned as net buyers on the HCM City’s exchange for a modest value of VNĐ27.5 billion but they extended their net selling streak in Hà Nội’s market for six straight sessions with yesterday’s value of more than VNĐ6.4 billion. — VNS