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HÀ NỘI — Shares continued their growth on Thursday but were restrained by slumps from many large companies.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index inched up 0.08 per cent to close Thursday at 1,112.19 points, lower than the growth of more than 3 per cent in the previous two sessions.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.03 per cent to end at 223.68 points, also much smaller than the previous expansion of more than 3 per cent.

According to BIDV Securities Co (BSC), the strong uptrend of the market cooled in Thursday’s session. Investment cash flow also showed signs of slowing down when the market had only nine out of 19 sectors gaining points.

“Liquidity fell sharply. Market amplitude narrowed and market breadth was balanced, showing that trading activities are weakening before the Lunar New Year holiday,” BSC’s analysts wrote in their daily report.

The firm forecast that the market will not have big fluctuations before the holiday as investors focus on preparing for Tết.

A total of 618 million shares worth VNĐ14 trillion (US$603.4 million) were traded in the two markets on Thursday.

Blue chips dragged the market when 14 out of 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on HCM City’s exchange slipped while only 10 increased. Six others closed flat.

The losers included heavyweight shares including VinGroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), Vietinbank (CTG), Vinamilk (VNM) and Hòa Phát Group (HPG).

Energy companies gained on Thursday and big names such as PV Gas (GAS), Petrolimex (PLX) and PV Power (POW) increased by more than 1 per cent each.

Other big gainers included IT giant FPT Corp (FPT), VPBank (VPB) and Khang Điền House Trading and Investment (KDH), all with growth of more than 3 per cent.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC), the market will possibly continue to improve in the short term. If the VN-Index crosses above 1,115-1,118 points through the week, the index will head towards strong resistance zone at 1,180-1,200 points in the future.

Liquidity remaining at a high level showed investors’ optimism about the market’s trend.

“However, the market’s movement may experience a wide divergence among stock sectors,” said BVSC’s stock analyst Trần Xuân Bách.

Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on both exchanges, picking up shares worth a net value of nearly VNĐ187 billion. — VNS