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HÀ NỘI — Growth softened on the Vietnamese market on Monday as investors sought profits in some large-cap stocks while retailers, financials and energy firms benefited from strong purchasing power.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 1.04 per cent to end at 765.79 points after having increased as much as 2.20 per cent in the morning session.

The VN-Index rose a total of nearly 8 per cent last week.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange was up 0.92 per cent to close at 107.16 points to record an eight-day rally of total 15.7 per cent since April 1.

Nearly 277 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ4.76 trillion (US$203.87 million). The total figure included 236 million shares being traded via matched orders, worth VNĐ3.44 trillion.

The market was driven by large-cap stocks as the large-cap tracker VN30-Index rose 1.53 per cent to 706.37 points. But not all 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket advanced.

At the end of the day, the large-cap basket had 21 gaining stocks and five decliners while four ended flat.

The fall of the five large-caps, which were consumer firm Masan (MSN), SSI Securities Corp (SSI), petrol company Petrolimex (PLX), FLC Faros Construction (ROS) and dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), was attributed to increased selling pressure.

Among those large-caps, MSN shares tumbled 3.5 per cent after having soared a total of nearly 23 per cent in the previous seven days.

SSI shares slipped 1.1 per cent to mark their first declining day after they had gained a total of 34.2 per cent since March 31.

Meanwhile, Petrolimex shares shed 1 per cent and Vinamilk shares edged down 0.5 per cent.

Strong gains in shares of VPBank (VPB), real estate firm Vincom Retail (VRE), aviation company Vietjet (VJC), retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG), Techcombank (TCB) and Military Bank (MBB) boosted the market.

Positive trade of oil prices in the Asian window also helped cushion the market confidence in energy stocks such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), which advanced 1.3 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively.

The market was kept rallying on Monday but the fact of declining liquidity means investors are becoming more cautious with the short-term peak of 770 points, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co (SHS) said in its daily report.

Foreign investors continuing to net-sell VNĐ260 billion worth of shares on Monday is something that should be concerning at the moment, SHS said.

Technical indicators show investors are preparing for a short correction stage on the market in coming days after the market has rallied in 11 of the last 13 trading days, the company added. —VNS