Vietnamese markets ended mixed on Thursday morning, with the VN-Index extending losses due to active profit-taking activities on bank and real estate stocks.
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index posted a drop of 1.37 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1,442.93 points in the morning trade. It lost 0.56 per cent yesterday.
The market's breadth was still negative with 232 stocks falling, while 183 stocks increased. The liquidity also declined sharply compared to the previous trade. Of which, the trading value on HoSE plunged 27.4 per cent to nearly VND17.1 trillion (US$750.1 million).
The benchmark's downtrend was mainly due to losses in some large-cap stocks, especially banking and real estates sectors.
The VN30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks on the southern bourse, fell 4.57 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 1,526.08 points. Of the VN30 basket, ten stocks rose, while 19 slid and one stayed flat.
According to vietstock.vn, Vietcombank (VCB) led the losing group, with the biggest loss of 1.52 per cent. Other big losing stocks were Vinhomes (VHM), Techcombank (TCB), Vingroup (VIC) and VPBank (VPB).
However, the losses were capped by gains in some pillar stocks. Of which, Hoa Phat Group (HPG), BIDV (BID) and Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) contributed the most in supporting the market, with gains of more than 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, on Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 3.28 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 418.99 points.
Foreign investors continued to net buy on HoSE, with a value of VND190.81 billion. VNS