Shares extend losses on Thursday morning as a series of blue-chip stocks fell among low trading liquidity. — Photo ndh.vn

Shares extend losses on Thursday morning as a series of blue-chip stocks fell among low trading liquidity.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 1.54 per cent to end morning trading at 878.03 points. It edged down 0.09 per cent to end Wednesday at 891.75 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index shed 1.85 per cent to end at 100.77 points. It had fallen 1.50 per cent to 102.67 points on Wednesday.

Liquidity remained low. Nearly 89.2 million shares worth a combined VNĐ1.7 trillion (US$73 million) were traded on the two markets.

Large-cap companies performed poorly with the blue-chip VN30 Index falling 1.69 per cent to 841.22 points.

Meanwhile, market breadth was negative with 71 stocks gaining and 308 declining, while 375 ended flat.

Blue-chip stocks that declined included real estate developer Vinhomes (VHM), Novaland (NVL), steel maker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), with each losing between 1 and 1.8 per cent.

However, some other large-cap stocks like HDBank (HDB) and brewery Sabeco (SAB) recovered, supporting the indices.

Afternoon trading starts at 1pm. — VNS