The market breadth was positive as 123 stocks rose while 288 stocks slid. Photo vietstock.vn

Shares failed to gain on Thursday morning due to strong profit-taking weighing on pillar stocks.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) decreased by 0.27 per cent to 1,259.14 points.

The market breadth was positive as 123 stocks rose while 288 stocks slid.

The liquidity was low with over 449 million shares traded on HoSE, worth more than VND13.4 trillion.

The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on the southern bourse, dropped 0.06 per cent to 1,400.86 points.

As many as 14 stocks in the VN30 basket were up while 16 stocks declined.

Pillar stocks performed poorly on selling pressure, including Bao Viet HOldings (BVH), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Vinamilk (VNM), Sabeco (SAB), Vietjet (VJC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Novaland (NVL).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index declined 0.1 per cent to 294.94 points. VNS