HÀ NỘI — Shares fell slightly Wednesday on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange after rising for four consecutive sessions, due to investors’ profit-taking attempts that hit the large-cap stocks in the energy and banking sectors.

The southern stock exchange has been shut down for two days in a row. It experienced a technical crash at 2.31pm on Monday, halting all trading activities.

The HNX Index declined slightly, 0.05 per cent, to end at 126.26 points. The northern market index rose nearly 5 per cent in the last four sessions.

Over 60 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth nearly VNĐ1.1 trillion (US$48.3 million), down 44 per cent in volume and 27 per cent in value compared with Tuesday’s figures.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC), market liquidity remained relatively below the moderate level, while market breadth was neutral. Investors turned cautious after the bullish session on Tuesday. Cash inflows weakened as a number of stocks on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange surged in the previous session.

“From our view, cash inflows will return to large-cap stocks on the HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) when this bourse reopens in the next few days,” BVSC said in its daily report.

The market trading condition was quite balanced, with 93 gaining stocks against 95 declining ones and 67 stocks closing unchanged.

The energy sector suffered large selling pressure, with laggards including PetroViet Nam Coating JSC (PVB) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), down 2.23 per cent and 0.32 per cent, respectively.

The brokerage sector also saw a weak performance, with Sài Gòn – Hà Nội Securities JSC (SHS) and BVSC, declining 0.42 per cent and 0.97 per cent.

Other losers were construction-material producers, including Viglacera Tiên Sơn Joint Stock Company (VIT), down 2.98 per cent.

Foreign investment on HNX became more positive on Tuesday than the previous sessions with net buying of over VNĐ18.7 billion. Việt Nam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (VCG) received the greatest amount of foreign capital with VNĐ8.8 billion. The second-largest receiver was PVS with nearly VNĐ8 billion.

 “The two-day shutdown of the HoSE can certainly have an impact on investors’ sentiment after the bourse reopens. However, the market’s uptrend in the mid-term is still sustained as a number of large listed companies have revealed solid earnings results in 2017,” BVSC said in its daily report. — VNS