An investor at a brokering house in Hà Nội. The VN-Index edged up 0.13 per cent on Thursday. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Recovery of heavyweight stocks in the final minutes of Thursday's session rescued the VN-Index from a fall after the southern market index sank in the red for most of trading time.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.13 per cent to close the session at 992.45 points.

Two biggest supporters included the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), of which share price increased by 2.6 per cent in the afternoon trade, and Vinamilk (VNM), which bounced back to growth, rising 1.6 per cent.

Some blue chips rose in the latter half of the sessions, including Vinhomes (VHM), Techcombank (TCB) and Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ); or shifted from loss status to being flat such as Vietcombank (VCB), Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vietinbank (CTG), FPT Corp (FPT) and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI).

Of the 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity, only 11 declined (down from 20 in the morning), 12 gained and seven closed unchanged.

Some continued downward such as PVGas (GAS), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and Hồ Chí Minh Development Bank (HDB), each falling more than 1 per cent, which weighed on the market.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC), sectors with expectantly positive profit in the third quarter such as banks, retail sales, real estate and electricity, natural rubber, would gain more attention in the short term.

“The index tends to establish a sideways channel between 998-1,004 points and 980-985 points, which is expected to last a short time for the market’s accumulation,” Trần Xuân Bách, a BVSC’s stock analyst, wrote in the daily report.

“In the long term, we maintain our positive opinion that the market will soon break resistance zone 1,000-1,005 points and head toward stronger resistance.”

Without the support of large caps, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange still inched down 0.05 per cent to close at 105.21 points.

Liquidity improved substantially with 214.7 million shares worth VNĐ6.7 trillion (US$287.8 million) traded in the two markets, up 6.6 per cent in volume but up 47.3 per cent in value compared to Wednesday’s levels.

However, foreign investors have shown no signs of stopping their net selling. They were net sellers for the eighth consecutive session on the HCM City’s exchange on Thursday, for total value of more than VNĐ1 trillion.

They net bought on the Hà Nội’s bourse for small value of VNĐ4 billion. — VNS