An oil rig constructed by PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (HNX: PVS). The company's shares gained 2.2 per cent on Tuesday thanks to the recovery of oil prices. — Photo petrotimes.vn

HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares fell for a fourth trading day as investors waited for the outcome of US-China trade talks this week.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) on Tuesday inched down 0.04 per cent to end at 957.56 points.

The VN-Index has totalled a four-day decline of 2.25 per cent since May 2.

Vietnamese shares rolled along with other Asia-Pacific markets despite positive gains from the US market overnight on Monday.

US stocks were cushioned by signals that China had confirmed its deputy prime minister would discuss trade relations between the world’s two largest economies on Thursday and Friday.

According to analysts, any hawkish statements made by the US would make China turn more dovish, leading to more easing on its monetary policies to boost the local business community.

However, investors on the Vietnamese market remained cautious as they were unsure what results would come from this week’s trade talks, according to MB Securities JSC (MBS).

As investors were unwilling to trade stocks, the VN-Index had an early peak before falling to negative territory at the end of the morning session.

The benchmark index then moved around Monday’s close of 957.97 points for the rest of the afternoon session.

“Investors will keep an eye on US-China trade talks for the rest of the week,” MBS said.

Trading volume fell by 10.3 million shares to 145.3 million shares from the previous day’s figure.

The value of stocks traded on HoSE reached VNĐ3.35 trillion, up slightly from Monday’s number.

Another factor that blocked local stocks was net foreign selling, which was VNĐ155 billion on HoSE. On Monday, foreign investors net bought VNĐ78 billion.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.39 per cent, ending a three-day fall of total 1.9 per cent.

More than 50 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ561 billion.

The figures were up 13.6 per cent in volume and 14.6 per cent in value from Monday.

Insurance stocks were the best-performing as they pushed the sector index up 4.2 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) soared 5.6 per cent after having fallen total 21 per cent since April 24.

Petroleum stocks made good gains on increased oil prices following tension between the US and Iran.

PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) jumped 3.8 per cent and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) gained 2.2 per cent.

On the opposite side, shares of banks and securities firms remained negative. – VNS