HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s benchmark VN Index fell slightly on Thursday as large-cap stocks traded in the negative territory on strong investor selling.

The HCM Stock Exchange’s index inched down 0.07 per cent to close at 830.11 points, stepping back from a two-day increase of nearly 1.3 per cent.

More than 187.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4 trillion (US$178.3 million).

The trading figures represented an increase of 17 per cent in volume and a decline of 7.2 per cent in value compared to Wednesday.

The market breadth was negative with 185 declining stocks, 77 gaining and 51 stocks that closed flat.

Large-cap stocks underperformed as 19 of the 30 top companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 Index saw share prices drop.

Among the worst decliners were PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Kinh Bắc City Development Holding (KBC) and Thành Thành Công Tây Ninh Sugar Co (SBT).

However, the VN30 Index managed to rise 0.13 per cent to 822.53 points on the back of FLC Faros Construction (ROS) and food and beverage producers Masan (MSN), Sabeco (SAB) and Vinamilk (VNM).

Shares of banks and brokerage companies contributed to the decline of the benchmark index.

Six of the seven bank stocks on the HCM Stock Exchange declined, including Vietcombank (VCB), MBBank (MBB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID).

VCB lost 0.4 per cent and MBB declined by 0.9 per cent after having gained a total of 2.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Among declining brokerage stocks were the largest firms such as Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), HCM City Securities (HCM) and Viet Capital Securities (VCI).

HCM fell 2 per cent following its two-session gain of total 4.1 per cent, while SSI and VCI lost steam after advancing on Wednesday.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Co’s analyst Trần Xuân Bách, the benchmark index offered little indication of how it would move in the upcoming sessions, though it was saved by investors’ pick-up purchases.

The market depended heavily on large-cap stocks, which underperformed on Thursday, indicating that investors were becoming more cautious with the market conditions, Bách said in a company note.

Such underperformance and divergence of large-cap stocks also increased pressure on mid-cap and small-cap ones, signaling possible further drops for the VN Index in the next sessions, he said.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index lost 1.01 per cent to end at 106.31 points. The northern market index had advanced total 1.1 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Nearly 57.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ650 billion. — VNS