People walk pass by the Ha Noi Stock Exchange in Ha Noi. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Viet Nam’s benchmark VN Index fell slightly on Thursday morning, owing to large-cap stocks that were hit by profit-taking.

The benchmark index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched down 0.12 per cent to close at 772.96 points. It had gained a total 1.9 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Around 112.6 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.9 trillion (US$84.5 million).

Blue chips were brought down by investors’ profit-taking after the index rose in the past two days.

Declining stocks outnumbered gainers by 18 to 8 on the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation.

Shares that fell include dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietinbank (CTG), gas station operator Petrolimex (PLX) and property developer Vingroup (VIC).

Other stocks that had risen strongly in the previous days, such as Sai Gon Securities (SSI), HCM City Securities (HCM), FPT Securities (FTS) and Vietinbank Securities (CTS), either ended flat or dropped.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up 0.23 per cent to end at 99.66 points, extending gains from a two-day increase of 2.6 per cent. Around 42.7 million shares worth VND338.8 billion were traded on the northern exchange.

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. – VNS