On a sector basis, banking, insurance and logistics moved up. — VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares ended lower today as investors tried to take profits after the benchmark VN-Index surpassed the 1,000-point level.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange dropped 0.21 per cent to end Thursday at 998.82 points.

Nearly 219 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.3 trillion (US$184 million).

The southern index increased 0.50 per cent to end Wednesday at 1,000.89 points.

On a sector basis, banking, insurance and logistics moved up.

On the opposite side, securities, real estate, healthcare, seafood production, retail, wholesale, construction, construction material, agriculture, food and beverage, and oil and gas declined.

According to news site vietstock.vn, in 256 of the 4,641 VN-Index trading sessions so far, the index closed above 1,000 points. This shows the 1,000-point mark is an important threshold.

Today, the VN-Index started the session with a smooth and even approach near the 1,004-point level, creating positive momentum.

However, the index reversed to decrease in the final minutes of trading as profit-taking pressure increased among banking stocks and some individual large-cap stocks.

Decliners today included dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) (-1.5 per cent), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) (-0.9 per cent), Vietinbank (CTG) (- 0.7 per cent), Vincom Retail (VRE) (-0.2 per cent), Vietcombank (VCB) (-0.1 per cent), Sabeco (SAB) (-0.2 per cent), Techcombank (TCB) (-0.4 per cent), Military Bank (MBB) (-0.2 per cent) and Mobile World Group (MWG) (-0.2 per cent).

Gainers included Vinhomes (VHM) (+0.2 per cent), Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) (+1 per cent), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) (+1.8 per cent), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) (+0.3 per cent), HDBank (HDB) (+1.9 per cent), Masan Group (MSN) (+0.3 per cent), PVPower (POW) (+ 0.8 per cent) and Novaland (NVL) (+0.3 per cent).

HDBank (HDB) witnessed a significant increase as it soared by 1.9 per cent to VNĐ29,450 per share. HDB recorded a trading volume of 4.6 million shares, the highest level so far this year.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.66 per cent to close at 105.19 points.

The northern index rose 1.15 per cent to close at 105.89 points on Wednesday.

The US Federal Reserve decided to lower interest rates for the third consecutive time this year in a statement last night. According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company (SHS), this information aided investor sentiment.

In the next trading session, the VN-Index might recover to challenge the 1,000 point level. Medium and long-term investors should hold their portfolios to take advantage of the market's positive trend, SHS said. — VNS