The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.26 per cent to 917.33 points. — Photo cafef.vn

Shares ended on a negative note on Thursday due to profit-taking pressure dumping a series of large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.26 per cent to 917.33 points.

The index had gained 0.44 per cent to close Wesnesday at 919.72 points.

Nearly 268.6 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND4.3 trillion (US$185.5 million).

Market breadth was negative with 277 losers and 111 gainers.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index declined 0.30 per cent to 868.27 points with 12 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity dropping.

Some pillar stocks were hardly hit by selling pressure, including Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, Vietinbank (CTG), HDBank (HDB), SSI Securities Incorporation (SSI), Sabeco (SAB), Techcombank (TCB), Vietcombank (VCB), Vinhomes (VHM), Vietjet (VJC), Vinamilk (VNM), Vingroup (VIC) and Vincom Retail (VRE).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was down 0.72 per cent to close Thursday morning at 135.15 points.

The northern market index had gained 0.43 per cent to close at 915.67 points.

More than 41.6 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND507.5 billion. — VNS