Vietnamese shares rose slower at the end of Wednesday morning as a number of large-cap stocks lost momentum on stronger profit-taking.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.18 per cent to close at 1,026.21 points.

The VN-Index had gained total 2.55 per cent in the previous three days.

Nearly 100 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.9 trillion (US$81.6 million).

Large-cap stocks, which had remained the driving factor for the stock market in previous days, were mixed.

The large-cap VN30-Index was flat, closing at 942.38 points with 14 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity falling.

Decliners included Vincom Retail (VRE), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Techcombank (TCB), VPBank (VPB), Mobile World Investment (MWG) and Petrolimex (PLX).

Cash ran into mid-cap and small-cap stocks, boosting the VNMID-Index and VNSML-Index up 0.16 per cent and 0.23 per cent.

By sector, the market was weighed down by securities, retail, logistics and transportation, and seafood processing industries.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 0.33 per cent to end at 107.06 points.

The northern market index was up total 1.44 per cent in the previous three days.

Nearly 11 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND157 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS