Shares were mixed on Thursday morning as the banking sector was hit hard by profit-taking activities, while gains in material stocks capped the losses.
The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) posted a drop of 3.17 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 1,357.77 points. The market's breadth was negative as 213 stocks declined while 154 increased.
The liquidity kept falling, showing a weaker risk appetite of investors. During the morning trade, investors poured nearly VND13.7 trillion (US$598.1 million) into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 414.9 million shares.
Selling pressure appeared since the early trade, with bank stocks suffering the most. Large-cap stocks also continued to witness strong division.
The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index slid 0.34 per cent in the morning session to 1,484.5 points. Nineteen of 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket inched down, while ten stocks climbed and one stayed unchanged.
Bank stocks confronted the selling-off headwinds since yesterday afternoon's trade, with Vietcombank (VCB) losing the most, 0.79 per cent. Techcombank, Vietinbank (TCB), MBBank (MBB), BIDV (BID), Sacombank (STB), HDBank (HDB) and VPBank (VPB) all inched lower.
Vingroup JSC (VIC) and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (PVGas, GAS) also reported big drops of 0.92 per cent and 2.27 per cent, respectively.
On the other hand, material stocks still performed well. Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) was the biggest gainer, up 2.26 per cent, followed by Hoa Phat Group (HPG), up 0.99 per cent.
The HNX-Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), meanwhile, continued to rise 0.2 per cent to 345.51 points. VNS