HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares struggled to extend gains on both local exchanges yesterday, weighed down by low investor confidence.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.16 per cent to close at 793.55 points.

The southern market index has extended gains for a fifth session with total growth of 2.5 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange gained 0.11 per cent to end at 104.50 points, capping a total increase of 0.7 per cent over the last two sessions.

More than 197 million shares were traded on both local exchanges, worth VNĐ4.14 trillion (US$184.3 million).

Wednesday’s trading figures were down slightly in trading volume but up in value compared to the previous session.

The market’s gains on Wednesday were attributed to positive performances from a few large-cap stocks, including VPBank (VPB), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), steel producer Hòa Phát Group (HPG), FLC Faros Construction (ROS) and Vicostone (VCS).

Among those stocks, GAS and shares of other energy companies were boosted by the rise of global crude oil prices.

Brent crude was up 1.1 per cent to trade at nearly $54 a barrel. It has increased by total 6.1 per cent since the end of August.

However, market trading conditions were what worried investors as other large-cap stocks underperformed, with nearly two-thirds of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index ending in negative territory.

Among declining blue chips were dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), real estate firm Vingroup (VIC) and Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID).

Overall, declining stocks outnumbered gaining ones by 273 to 181.

According to Bảo Việt Securities (BVSC), the struggling indices on Wednesday proved that profit-taking pressured local markets, especially speculative mid- and small-cap stocks.

Though market trading liquidity improved on Wednesday, it stayed below the average of the last 21 trading sessions, showing investor confidence remained low, BVSC said.

Investors were concerned the market would struggle to rise further in the short-term as the current rally mainly came from the increase of a few individual large-cap stocks, not from stocks as a whole, BVSC added.

“Therefore, the stock market will fall into a short-term correction period as the large-cap stocks will soon lose their steam and will not be strong enough to continue lifting the market.” — VNS