Shares fell towards the end of the Friday morning trade session, as investors were uncertain about the market trend.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched down 0.05 per cent to 804.86 after surging nearly 808 points early morning.

The market breadth was neutral, with 118 stocks falling, 115 advancing and 111 remaining unchanged.

Large-cap stocks also saw divergence. Some 12 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity gained value, but 11 lost.

The stocks pulling the market down included Vietcombank (VCB), VinGroup (VIC), PV Gas (GAS), Masan Group (MSN) and brewer Sabeco (SAB).

Meanwhile, the growth of BIDV (BID), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), FPT Corp (FPT) and Military Bank (MBB), as well as Mobile World Group (MWG) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) cushioned the market.

Liquidity was low, with just 67.5 million shares worth nearly VND1.4 trillion (US$61.7 million) traded by the end of the morning.

Money focused on speculative stocks like HAI Agrochem (HAI), financial service company FIT Group (FIT), Tan Tao Industry Investment (ITA) and real estate FLC Group (FLC). Each of these had over 2 million shares traded in the morning.

By contrast, the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange edged up 0.44 per cent to 107.43 points but liquidity was dry here with just 34 million shares worth VND416 billion.

The afternoon trade session starts at 1pm. – VNS