The benchmark VN Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) gained 0.75 per cent to close Thursday at 952.34 points. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares extended gains for a fourth day on Thursday on the wings of realty and consumer staple firms, despite rising selling pressure.

The benchmark VN Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) gained 0.75 per cent to close Thursday at 952.34 points.

The southern market index has rallied a total 4.8 per cent this week.

More than 181 million shares were traded on HoSE, worth VNĐ4.83 trillion (US$207.2 million).

Realty and consumer staples were the two industries that drove the market up.

The two industry indices rose 2.8 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Three real estate giants – Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vinhomes (VHM) – were the driving factors of the stock market, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS).

The three stocks increased between 2.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent each.

Consumer staple firms also performed well with growth rates ranging from 0.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent.

Among food and beverage producers, Masan (MSN) inched up 0.1 per cent, despite foreign investors net buying the firm’s shares for VNĐ1.23 trillion via put-through transactions.

Foreign investors also purchased stocks on HoSE for a net value of VNĐ1.45 trillion.

On the opposite side, bank stocks began slowing their growth as “capital flowing into the banking sector started cooling down and selling showed signs to pressurise bank stocks when approaching high price levels,” Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) said in a note.

Among bank stocks on HoSE, only Vietcombank (VCB) and Military Bank (MBB) were able to keep growing but their rates were humble at 0.7 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.

Others such as TPBank (TPB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Sacombank (STB) and Techcombank (TCB) ended Thursday on a negative note.

Brokerage-finance firms and petroleum companies also posted losses on Thursday with the two sector indices falling 0.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent.

“The divergence among large-cap stocks is becoming clearer under the pressure of investors’ profit-taking,” SHS said in its daily report.

This showed investors were becoming “more concerned about the possibility of a coming market correction,” the brokerage firm said.

According to Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC), the stock market signalled the end of its short-term uptrend during Thursday’s session.

As the VN Index ended slightly off its intraday high of 953.66 points and posted slower growth day after day, and liquidity fell from previous sessions, the market was running out of momentum, TCSC said.

“There is a big probability that the VN Index may encounter strong selling pressure as it has entered the 950-960 point range.”

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index edged down 0.35 per cent to close at 106.12 points after having gained a total 4.1 per cent since the end of last year.

Nearly 39 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ432.4 billion (US$18.6 million). — VNS