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HÀ NỘI — Some large-cap stocks picked up to boost the domestic market on Thursday while concerns persisted over the increasing tension between China and the US.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.20 per cent to end Thursday at 856.75 points, recovering from a fall of as much as 0.36 per cent during the day.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index was up 0.31 per cent to 800.29 points at the end of the day and the VN30 futures maturing on August 20 rose 0.64 per cent to 792 points.

Other VN30 futures, which will mature in September and December of 2020 and March 2021, also went up between 0.38 per cent and 0.59 per cent.

In the large-cap basket VN30, 16 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity increased while 12 declined.

Mall operator Vincom Retail (VRE), the Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) and residential property developer Vinhomes (VHM) were the three best gaining large-caps in the VN30 basket.

VRE jumped 5 per cent, REE rose 3.9 per cent and VHM advanced 1.7 per cent.

On the negative side, FLC Faros Construction (ROS), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and SSI Securities (SSI) led the sector downturn.

Despite large-caps’ growth, mid-cap and small-cap stocks declined to limit the market’s overall performance.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices VNMID and VNSML dropped 0.61 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively.

However, the market sentiment was still weighed down by worries about global economic growth prospects, which have been damaged by the US-China trade tensions and the prolonged coronavirus pandemic.

“Trading liquidity is not showing signs of improvement because investors believe today’s growth is only technical,” MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

“The 850-point level proves to be a strong support for the market as the VN-Index bounced back immediately when it touched this point.”

“The market’s short-term growth is over now and the VN-Index is settling at 850 points,” Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in a note.

The expected resistance zone would be 865 points, the company forecast.

“Narrowing gap between the VN30-Index and its August futures proves the market sentiment turns positive in the short run,” SHS said.

The minor HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange dropped 1.26 per cent to end Thursday at 113.87 points.

The northern market index fell 0.67 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 288.6 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VNĐ4.31 trillion (US$186.6 million).

Foreign investors net-sold VNĐ86.4 billion worth of local shares. The figure was down 47.5 per cent from Wednesday. — VNS