Laptops on display at a Mobile World Investment Corp's store. The firm stock was among large-cap items that boosted the Vietnamese stock market on Wednesday. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares finished Wednesday on a positive note but growth narrowed at the end of the session as investors stayed alert and tried to keep away from potential risks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.22 per cent to close at 968.91 points.

The VN-Index fell 0.87 per cent on Tuesday. 

Nearly 151.5 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ3.46 trillion (US$148.8 million).

The Vietnamese stock market was driven by the insurance, technology, agriculture, construction and retail sectors.

Their sector indices rose between 0.9 per cent and 2 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Those sectors grew despite investors caution about current market conditions, according to securities firms.

The increases of local stocks in the early stages of the day trapped a number of investors at high price levels, VNDirect Securities Corporation (VNDS) said in its daily report.

That trap and concerns about the uncertainty of global stocks forced investors to start selling, showing they wanted to minimise risks towards their portfolios, the company said.

Foreign investors sold a net VNĐ225 billion worth of local stocks. Their moves complied with the global trend in which investors tried to run from risky assets and into safe havens such as bonds, VNDS said.

There were some signals that international markets would experience some uncertainties in the short term and investors seemed confused, VNDS said, adding they were betting that global stocks would decline strongly.

Global stocks cheered on Tuesday night after US President Donald Trump delayed imposing a 10 per cent tax bill on $300 billion worth of American products, worrying the tax bill could hit US year-end shopping season.

However, data from the Chinese administration showed the second largest economy had the weakest industrial output growth in 17 years.

The caution of professional investors was quite clear because short term capital inflow, which is referred to individual investors' purchases, depends on their decisions, VNDS said.

Investors began seeking opportunities in small-cap firms, according to MB Securities Co (MBS). However, it often means the end of the market’s short-term uptrend as large-cap stocks are running out of momentum to lift the market.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.30 per cent to end at 101.98 points.

The northern market index lost 0.51 per cent on Tuesday.

More than 22.6 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ336 billion. — VNS