Workers of steel company Hoà Phát Group (HPG) in a factory. HPG rose 2.1 per cent on Thursday. — Photo hoaphat.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares managed only modest gain thanks to the support of heavyweight stocks but low liquidity still showed investors’ cautiousness.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.1 per cent to end at 855.27 points.

It had lost 0.20 per cent to close Wednesday at 854.44 points.

According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co, liquidity on HoSE was down from the previous session and stayed below the 20-session average. More than 280.3 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ4.3 trillion (US$185.7 million).

Investors were quite vulnerable with many failing short-term bottom catches and the market’s quick fall. They were keeping a close watch on market fluctuations, adopting a wait-and-watch approach with little capital injection, the company said.

According to Thành Công Securities Co, the VN-Index is struggling around 850 - 860 points, but the general trend of the index is still correcting.

“In the context of an unstable domestic economy and fluctuating world market, investors should prioritise risk management over profit-seeking,” the company said.

The blue-chip share tracker VN30-Index climbed 0.08 per cent to 797.08 points.

Thirteen of the 30 largest stocks by market valuation and trading liquidity decreased while eleven increased. Six stayed unchanged.

The notable rally of Hoà Phát Group (HPG) on Thursday supported the uptrend of the market. Among the large-cap VN30 basket, HPG recorded the strongest increase of 2.1 per cent.

While many businesses were ravaged by COVID-19, HPG was among the few publishing good earning results in Q1. The giant steelmaker saw Q1 revenue up 28 per cent and post-tax profit up 27 per cent against last year.

Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) also made a strong gain of 2.1 per cent on Thursday despite the fall of 72 per cent in pre-tax profit.

Among other gainers were Vietcombank (VCB), Vinhomes (VHM), Vietjet (VJC) and Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID).

On a sector basis, 13 out of 25 sectors posted gains on Thursday, including wholesale, insurance, real estate, information and technology, banking, rubber production, seafood production and logistics.

Decliners were securities, retail, healthcare, energy, agriculture, food and beverage and construction.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was down 0.47 per cent to close Thursday at 112.74 points.

It had lost 1.92 per cent to close Wednesday at 113.27 points.

Nearly 53.4 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ430 billion.  VNS