The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.5 per cent to 899.46 points. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares lost ground on Friday morning, weighed down by the large-caps stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.5 per cent to 899.46 points.

The index had risen 1.37 per cent to end Thursday at 903.94 points, setting a new high since peaking at 900 points on June 10.

Nearly 211.9 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VND3.8 trillion (US$164 million).

The blue-chip tracker VN30-Index was down 0.71 per cent to 837.69 points.

The large-cap poor performance had a negative impact on the overall market, pulling down indices.

In the VN30 basket, 24 of the 30 largest shares by market capitalisation and trading liquidity decreased while five increased.

Among the loser were PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), brewer Sabeco (SAB), Vingroup (VIC), HDBank (HDB) and Vietcombank (VCB).

Those large-caps boosted the property, banking, utilities and consumer sectors between 0.3 per cent and 1.6 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slid 1.11 per cent to 124.66 points.

It had risen 0.51 per cent to end Thursday at 126.05 points.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS