PetroVietnam Gas Corporation's facility in Cà Mau Province. The company shares gained 1.4 per cent on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hùng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares inched up on Wednesday as the strong gains of energy, utilities and retail sectors countered profit taking.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange moved up 0.03 per cent to 952.22 points.

The index slid 0.01 per cent on Tuesday.

Leading companies in the retail, utilities and energy sectors made good gains to cushion the market.

The three sector indices rose between 1.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

Leading companies in the two sectors advanced, including Mobile World Investment (MWG), FPT Retail (FRT), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).

According to KB Việt Nam Securities (KVSV), retail and utilities are among several sectors that would provide good earnings reports in the fourth quarter of the year.

MWG, FRT and GAS – the three leading companies in retail and utilities – were up 1.9 per cent, 0.5 per cent, and 1.4 per cent, respectively.

Oil-extraction contractor PV Drilling and Well Services shares (PVD) jumped 3.4 per cent.

Other stocks in the oil and gas sector such as PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS), PetroVietnam Coating Corp (PVB) and PetroVietnam Mud Drilling (PVC) also performed well.

On the opposite side, Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Vinhomes (VHM), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and Phú Nhuận Jewellery JSC (PNJ) declined to weigh on the market.

Other large-caps such as dairy company Vinamilk (VNM), consumer firm Masan (MSN), steel producer Hòa Phát (HPG) and tech group FPT (FPT) ended flat.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index on Wednesday inched up 0.02 per cent to 916.68 points.

The VN30 futures due on November 19 gained only 0.04 per cent to 921.4 points.

But other futures due on December 17, 2020 and March 18 and June 17, 2021 declined by 0.08-0.50 per cent.

The changes indicated investors were drawn away from large-cap stocks amid a lack of good news.

Meanwhile, mid-cap and small-cap trackers on the southern bourse rose 0.32 per cent and 0.46 per cent, respectively.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index added 0.32 per cent to 141.82 points.

The northern market index fell 0.17 per cent on Tuesday.

More than 456.3 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND8.95 trillion (US$387.7 million).

Market trading liquidity declined on a daily basis while the market breadth turned negative, proving investors were trying to lock in stocks’ previous gains, BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said in its daily report.

The VN-Index may fall back to 940-950 points in coming days, the company said. — VNS