Investors watch markets move at a trading centre of MayBank Kim Eng Securities Company in HCM City. The VN Index yesterday ended lower from a nine-day rally of 5.7 per cent. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vietnamese shares yesterday fell after a nine-day rally, driven by profit-taking, while oil and gas firms suffered losses as crude prices pulled from a one-month high and after a two-day gain.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 0.4 per cent to close at 685.73 points, ending a nine-day rally of 5.7 per cent – the longest rising streak since the beginning of the year.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched down 0.1 per cent to end at 85.00 points from a three-day increase of 2.4 per cent.

"It was only a technical correction for the market," Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVSC) said in a note.

"The last trading session ended lower because investors increased their sales to take profits from their investments after the market had rallied in the previous nine consecutive days."

Profit-taking pulled down half of the large-cap stocks in the sub-category VN30 Index, which contains the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity.

Vietinbank (CTG), HCM Securities Corp (HCM), real estate firm Vingroup JSC (VIC), confectionery producer Kido Group (KDC) and technology giant FPT Corp (FPT) were among the biggest decliners with decreases of between 1.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent.

Other stocks in the VN30 Index such as Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp (KBC) and PetroVietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 JSC (NT2) pulled back from their recent increases.

KBC dropped 1.3 per cent after a three-day gain of 2.7 per cent and NT2 fell 1.6 per cent from a two-week jump of 13.2 per cent.

Oil and gas companies turned from winners to losers as crude prices slipped from a two-day rise after skeptism about whether OPEC's first eight-year cut could have positive impact on the global glut.

US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 0.3 per cent to trade at US$47.71 a barrel and London-traded Brent crude fell nearly 1 per cent to trade at $48.79 a barrel. US crude and Brent crude jumped 7.1 per cent each in the previous two sessions.

Among local oil and gas companies, PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) slumped 3 per cent, PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) slid 2 per cent, and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) lost 2.8 per cent.

Investors traded more than 157 million shares yesterday worth VND3.22 trillion ($143.4 million), a decrease of 8.8 per cent from Thursday's trading value. — VNS