HA NOI (Biz Hub)-- The retreat of large-cap shares pulled the VN-Index down to 486.92 points by the end of this morning after surpassing 490 points in the early session.

The HCM City Stock Exchanged opened high thanks to a strong increase in PetroVietnam Gas (GAS). Price of GAS jumped VND2,000 early this morning after the company reported a huge consolidated income of nearly VND4.3 trillion (US$204.8 million) in the first quarter. This gradually decreased to VND55,500 a share by the end of the morning.

The retreat of other blue chips, such as property giant VinGroup (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB), Eximbank (EIB), real estate Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Phu Nhuan Jewelrey (PNJ) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) also helped pull the Index down.

The VN30 tracking the top 30 shares on the bourse was also down 0.13 per cent at 551.81 points.

Trading was good, however, with more than 41 million shares, worth VND645 billion ($30.7 million), changing hands.

Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) remained the most active code this morning with nearly 2.2 million shares traded, edging down 1.43 per cent at VND6,900 a share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also gave up 0.33 per cent to stand at 60.44 points. Nearly 20.8 million shares, worth VND158 billion ($7.5 million), were exchanged this morning.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) is temporarily leading the market here on trades of 3.15 million shares but the shares declined 1.45 per cent to VND6,800 a share.

Trading will resume at 1pm. - VNS