Rising trade tension between the US and China continued overshadowing the global markets, including Viet Nam, on Thursday morning. — Photo vneconomy.vn

Vietnamese shares dipped on Thursday morning as selling increased amid worries about the US-China trade war.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was down 0.37 per cent to close at 980.13 points.

The VN-Index had dropped total 0.34 per cent in the previous two trading days.

More than 77 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.05 trillion (US$88 million).

Worries about increasing trade tensions between the US and China overshadowed Asian markets on Thursday morning.

Investors on the Vietnamese stock market continued running from local assets, especially after the market's strong seven-day rally between May 9 and 20.

Petroleum stocks were the worst-performing in early trading, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The industry sector index lost 1.3 per cent on the fall of oil prices.

Other sectors that also ended in the negative territory included brokerage, retail, food and beverages, and technology.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased by 0.29 per cent to close at 105.82 points.

The northern market index lost total 0.18 per cent on Tuesday and Wednesday.

More than 15.3 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND231.5 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS