The stock market diversed on Thursday with the VN-Index falling further, as investors traded in a cautious sentiment while foreign investors continued to inject capital into both main bourses.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index dropped 0.45 point, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 1,116.97 points. It had lost more than 5 points on Wednesday after rising for three consecutive days.

The index recovered earlier thanks to large-cap stocks but it lost stream and finished the morning traded lower by 1 point.

Cautious sentiment was attributed to the bearish trend.

In the mid- and long-terms, the market is expected to remain optimistic, said Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS).

"The VN-Index is accumulating in a wide range of 1,000 - 1,150 points. And if macro factors are favourable and cash flows run in, it can open an uptrend", SHS added.

Decliners continued to dominate the southern bourse, while liqudity fell both in value and volume.

Particularly, the trading value volume decreased by 22.4 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, over the previous session to VND13.3 trillion (US$563.5 million) and 716.9 million shares.

The HoSE's large-cap tracker VN30-Index also edged lower at 1,108.57 points, down 2.03 points, or 0.18 per cent. Fifteen of the 30 biggest stocks dipped, while 11 stocks gained points and four ended unchanged.

Data compiled by a financial website vietstock.vn showed that realty and manufacturing industries were the market's leaders.

Vinhomes (VHM) was the major factor dragging down the market, as it contributed the biggest loss in the market capitalisaition. VHM shares fell 0.88 per cent.

Other pillar stocks posting great losses on Thursday were Sabeco (SAB) down 1.85 per cent, Vinamilk (VNM) down 1.19 per cent, Masan Group (MSN) dropped 1.15 per cent, and Vingroup (VIC) down 0.56 per cent.

Meanwhile, some large-cap stocks, led by the banking sector, performed well but the force was not strong enough to lift the market. Specifically, Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest gainer, up 0.88 per cent in market cap.

Securities companies also traded positively with VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND) up 2.14 per cent and SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) up 1.18 per cent.

Appealing ticker symbols like PV Gas (GAS), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), and PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) also helped cushion the downtrend.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rebounded from the previous loss. It gained 0.62 point, or 0.27 per cent, to 229.53 points.

Investors poured more than VND1.6 trillion into the northern exchange, equivalent to a trading volume of 91.3 million shares.

Foreign capital continued to flow into the market as foreign investors net bought more than VND410 billion on the two main exchanges. Of which, they net bought nearly VND398 billion on HoSE and VND12.84 billion on HNX. — VNS