Customers make transaction at the Bank for Investment and Development (BID) in Hà Nội. BID lost 2.2 per cent on Thursday. — Photo the courtesy of BID

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares failed to maintain their rally on Thursday.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.24 per cent to close at 958.59 points.

Nearly 266 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.9 trillion (US$211.7 million).

The VN-Index gained 0.21 per cent on Wednesday.

The large-cap VN30-Index was down 0.13 per cent at 872.07 points with 18 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity falling.

The VN-Index struggled as pillar stocks came under selling pressure, including Bank for Investment and Development (BID) (-2.2 per cent), Vietcombank (VCB) (-0.6 per cent), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) (-0.7 per cent), Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) (-1 per cent), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) (-0.6 per cent), Military Bank (MBB) (-0.7 per cent), Vingroup (VIC) (-0.1 per cent) and Mobile World Group (MWG) (-0.5 per cent).

Large-caps that did make gains included Vinhomes (VHM) (+0.6 per cent), Masan Group (MSN) (+2.3 per cent), Vincom Retail (VRE) (+1.5 per cent), Sabeco (SAB) (+0.4 per cent), Novaland (NVL) (+0.7 per cent) and VPBank (VPB) (+1.8 per cent), helping to support the market.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC), the VN-Index was forecast to oscillate between 960.7-961.5 points and 953-953.5 points over the next few sessions. With signs of a correction later Thursday, the index could possibly drop to the support zone of 953-953.5 points during the last session of the week.

The market will continue to experience a wild divergence among stock sectors. Stock exposure should be maintained at 30-40 per cent of the portfolio, BVSC said.

Investors with high stock exposure should lower the proportion of short-term positions.

According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co (SHS), investors were trading more slowly ahead of the year-end holiday as they wanted to preserve their cash amid a lack of business news.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ66.31 billion on the HOSE, including Masan Group (MSN) (VNĐ43.02 billion), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) (VNĐ18.15 billion) and Vincom Retail (VRE) (VNĐ11.95 billion).

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.59 per cent to end at 102.32 points.

The northern market index had gained a total of 0.57 per cent in the previous two trading days.

Nearly 41 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ557.4 billion. — VNS