The VN Index fell on Thursday morning as shares on the HCM Stock Exchange were hit by investors' profit-taking. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Viet Nam’s benchmark VN Index fell on Friday morning as real estate and bank shares were hit by profit-taking.

The HCM Stock Exchange index inched down 0.15 per cent to close at 932.34 points. It had totalled a gain of 4.7 per cent in the previous four sessions.

Nearly 116 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND3.88 trillion (US$172.7 million).

Losing stocks outnumbered the gaining ones by 138 to 125, and 40 others closed unchanged.

Rising pressure hit bank and real estate shares, as those were the sectors that helped lift the market in the previous sessions.

Of the seven listed banks on the HCM Stock Exchange, only Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID) and Sacombank (STB) advanced, but their growth was modest.

Meanwhile, other bank stocks were either down or flat, with Vietinbank (CTG), Eximbank (EIB) and Vietcombank (VCB) being losers.

Shares of property developers also declined on profit-taking, including FLC Group (FLC), Vingroup (VIC) and An Duong Thao Dien JSC (HAR).

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was also sluggish, ending Thursday morning up only 0.02 per cent at 110.20 points.

The northern market index had increased total 2 per cent in the previous two sessions.

More than 35 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth VND463.3 billion.

The afternoon trade session starts at 1pm. – VNS