Shares were volatile on Thursday morning as many large caps plunged, weighing on the overall market.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange decreased 0.09 per cent to close at 936.93 points.

It had decreased 0.21 per cent to close at 937.75 points on Thursday.

Nearly 129 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.6 trillion (US$112.3 million).

Market breadth was negative with 246 decliners and 122 gainers.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, decreased 0.14 per cent to close Friday morning at 902.35 points.

In the VN-30 basket, 16 stocks lost ground, seven increased and six remained flat.

Some pillar stocks were hit by selling pressure including Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vietcombank (VCB), Vinamilk (VNM), Sabeco (SAB), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX) and Vincom Retail (VRE).

The minor HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange increased 0.02 per cent to end Friday morning at 138.33 points.

More than 17 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND223.6 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. -- VNS