HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares fell on Thursday as increased selling pressure during the ATC session dragged oil-gas and bank stocks down.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange ended in negative territory, dropping 1.02 per cent to close at 1,076.03 points, marking the first bearish session after continuously rebounding for three consecutive days.

“We saw an increase in the colour red, which is considered a normal phenomenon for the market after a strong rally,” said Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC) said in its daily report.

The southern market index climbed 2.59 per cent to close at 1,087.15 points on Wednesday.

The minor HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange edged down 0.92 per cent to end at 124.70 points on Thursday. It surged by 1.24 per cent to end at 125.85 points on Wednesday.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) lost 0.15 per cent to finish at 59.28 points, reversing from a rise of 1.5 per cent in the previous session.

More than 266.4 million shares were traded on the three local exchanges, worth VNĐ7.24 trillion (US$318.2 million).

Declining stocks outnumbered the gaining ones by 393 to 248, while 800 other stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks underperformed, as 21 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index suffered, pulling the large-cap index down 1.04 per cent to 1,064.28 points.

Among the worst decliners in the VN30 basket are Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), down 4.3 per cent; Hoà Phát Group Joint Stock Company (HPG), dipping 2.1 per cent; Việt Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM), declining 1.2 per cent; as well as Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (VJC), down 2 per cent.

Banking stocks were sold strongly at the end of the day (only CTG and VCB increased). Petroleum stocks also underperformed.

The stocks that drove the banking sector down included Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), Việt Nam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) and Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBB). These bank stocks declined by 1.6 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.

The energy sector was driven down by PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) and PetroVietnam Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVD), down 5.4, 4.4 and 6.3 per cent, respectively.

Many large-cap stocks in the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) also suffered strong selling pressure, including Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV), down 0.4 per cent, Vietnam Airlines JSC (HVN), losing 3 per cent, Liên Việt Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPB), dropping 1.4 per cent and Masan Resources Corporation (MSR), decreasing 1.77 per cent.

“The correction of the VN-Index today was seen as a normal phenomenon after a streak of gains. The market is likely to continue experiencing a divergence on low liquidity in the next sessions,” BVSC said.

“Investors can take advantage of the market’s corrections to open short-term positions in the next sessions,” it added.

According to BIDV Securities JSC (BSC), the market will continue to have technical corrections but the amplitude will gradually narrow before the formation of new prices.

“However, investors should not be worried when the macro picture is still very optimistic and the financial reports for Q1 and shareholder meetings are coming,” BSC said in its daily report. — VNS