The VN Index lost 0.12 per cent to close at 1.170,80 points on Thursday. — Photo zing.vn

Shares slumped on Thursday morning as large-cap stocks were hit by heavy profit-taking pressure.

The VN Index on HCM Stock Exchange lost 0.12 per cent to close at 1.170,80 points. It had increased 0.04 per cent on Wednesday.

The HNX Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.31 per cent to end at 132,14 points. The Index had dropped 0.55 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 154 million shares, worth VND4 trillion (US$176 million), were traded on the two local bourses.

Market breadth was negative with 182 gaining shares, 248 declining ones and 301 stocks ending flat.

The UPCoM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market increased 0.71 per cent to stand at 60,17 points. The index had decreased 0.87 per cent in the previous session.

Banking stocks saw differentiation, with HDBank and VPBank gaining and Vietinbank and Military Bank declining.

Large-cap stocks underperformed as 17 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index decreased, pulling the large-cap index down 0.30 per cent to 1.147,59 points.

Stocks in the VN30 basket also experienced strong selling pressure, with many prominent stocks losing. These include dairy firm Vinamilk, PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation, Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation and Petrolimex Petrochemical Corporation-JSC.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS