An investor watches stock prices. Vietnamese shares struggled on Thursday morning as investors prepared for the year-end holiday. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares struggled on Thursday morning as investors exited the market to prepare for the year-end holiday.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.05 per cent to close at 961.41 points.

The VN-Index gained 0.21 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 172.5 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND3.22 trillion (US$139 million).

Large-cap stocks continued being the most important factor behind market growth, but their gains were almost flat.

The large-cap VN30-Index inched up 0.10 per cent to stand at 874.08 points with 13 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity rising.

Among gainers were consumer firm Masan (MSN), property developers Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vinhomes (VHM), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM) and tech group FPT (FPT).

Mid-cap stocks also advanced while small-cap stocks declined.

According to securities firms, investors were trading more slowly ahead of the year-end holiday as they want to preserve their cash amid a lack of business news.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.48 per cent to end at 102.44 points.

The northern market index had gained a total of 0.57 per cent in the previous two trading days.

More than 24 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND360.7 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS