HÀ NỘI — Shares declined on the two national stock exchanges on Thursday, dragged by bank stocks, as investor sentiment remained unstable on the market outlook.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index dropped 0.78 per cent to close trade at 946.06 points. Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange edged down 0.33 per cent to end at 113.57 points.

Both stock indices decreased on Wednesday.

Energy and bank stocks, which were the market drivers in the previous session, slumped on Thursday.

Six of 10 listed banks on the two stock exchanges lost value and only two advanced. The Big Three (three biggest banks by market value) – Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID) – all decreased by over 1 per cent.

Among oil and gas stocks, only PV Gas (GAS) maintained a tiny gain of 0.3 per cent while other companies such as PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC) both declined 3.8 per cent.

Large caps were on the downtrend side with 17 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the HCM Stock Exchange slipping and only nine advancing.

“Overall, distinct stories could not create a strong bullish sentiment. We believe it is rather difficult for the market to see a strong uptrend until early 2018,” Quang Võ, a stock analyst at Việt Dragon Securities Co wrote in a note.

On the positive side, Vinamilk (VNM) increased 0.94 per cent; insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) was up 1.2 per cent; and steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) increased 0.2 per cent.

HPG rose for a seventh straight day in a row with total growth of 11 per cent, being traded at over VNĐ44,000 (US$1.93). It also topped the foreign net buys for a second day with over five million shares in the past two days.

According to Quang Võ, HPG’s attraction comes from its expected outstanding Q4 business results due to the increasing steel prices. Besides, the new coated-steel plant coming into operation from early 2018, along with the Mandarin Garden apartment being handed over in Q4 this year, is also a plus.

Trading value improved on Thursday, worth a combined VNĐ7.1 trillion ($312.5 million) in the two markets, up 9.2 per cent over the previous session, but total trading volume decreased 2 per cent to 284 million shares. — VNS