Inside a Long Châu drug store in Gò Vấp District, HCM City. The drug store's parent firm FPT Retail (HoSE: FRT) rose 1.2 per cent on Wednesday. — Photo nhathuoclongchau.com

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares staggered on Wednesday to extend the market rally to a fourth day under profit taking pressure, led by retail and energy sectors.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.14 per cent to close Wednesday at 897.47 points after having gained as much as 0.15 per cent during the day.

The VN-Index has totalled a four-day rally of 0.97 per cent starting on Friday.

The retail and energy industries helped boost the index to near 900 points on Wednesday.

The two-sector indices rose 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively, according to vietstock.vn.

Large-cap stocks in the two sectors advanced such as Mobile World Investment (MWG), FPT Retail (FRT), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

Other sectors that also had strong gains included technology, securities, pharmaceuticals and medicals, and real estate.

On the opposite side, food and beverage, aquaculture, and some financial-banking companies weighed on the market.

Among the worst performing stocks in the three sectors were dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), consumer firm Masan (MSN), Vietinbank (CTG), and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID).

By market capitalisation, the blue-chip tracker VN30-Index added 0.14 per cent to 834.50 points. The VN30 futures due on September 20 edged up 0.2 per cent on Wednesday.

The large-cap basket trading was balanced with 11 gaining stocks and 11 decliners while eight finished flat.

The mid-cap tracker VNMID-Index advanced 0.44 per cent while the small-cap index VNSML slid 0.03 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the minor HNX-Index slid 0.05 per cent to 127.87 points, snapping a three-day increase of total 1.68 per cent.

More than 354.4 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND5.9 trillion (US$254 million).

Meanwhile, the market sentiment turned cautious ahead of the Fed’s meeting conclusion later in the day, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in a note.

Foreign exchange-traded funds (ETFs) shaking up their investment portfolios this week would also be another factor that can rock the market, the company said.

Given high trading liquidity, the market outlook remains positive in the short term, Thành Công Securities (TCSC) said in its daily report on Wednesday.

“But the 900-point level will still be a challenge for the VN-Index” and “the benchmark will struggle with this short-term peak and move between 875 points and 905 points,” TCSC forecast. — VNS