Vietnamese shares failed to maintain their upward trend on Thursday due to overwhelming selling pressure.

The benchmark index declined 0.12 per cent to end at 1,152.43 points. It had closed Wednesday day at 1,153.85 points, an increase of 1.4 per cent.

Liquidity declined with over 691 million shares, worth over VNĐ15.8 trillion (US$647.8 million), traded on the southern bourse, down 19 per cent in volume and 13 per cent in value compared to Wednesday’s trading.

Overall market conditions were negative, with 211 gainers and 282 losers, while another 59 closed unchanged.

Large-cap stocks were hit by profit-taking. Tracking the southern bourse’s largest stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, the VN30-Index lost 0.36 per cent to end at 1,164.45 points.

In the VN30 basket, market breadth was also negative with 10 gainers and 18 losers.

Most bank stocks fell, causing the overall index of the banking sector to drop 0.2 per cent. Losers were SeABank (SSB) down 4.8 per cent, Sacombank (STB) dropping 3.3 per cent, Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) losing 1.4 per cent, Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) down 1.1 and HDBank (HDB) falling 0.6 per cent.

Among the worst-performing stocks in the VN30 basket were retail company Vincom Retail Joint Stock Company (VRE), beer producer Sabeco (SAB), brokerage SSI Securities Inc (SSI), power firm PV Power (POW), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) and realty company Vinhomes (VHM).

“Although the market's decline continued during the session, the decrease was not large and quickly weakened. At the same time, strong supply pressure at the end of the session did not appear like in the previous two sessions,” said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

“The signal of VN-Index returning to the area above 1,150 points also helps the weakening pressure stop and the recovery span can be maintained in the near future.

“However, in this recovery period there will be a state of hesitation and dispute. Therefore, investors can consider exploiting short-term buying opportunities in some stocks but still need to observe supply and demand developments and evaluate the market state during the recovery period.

“In addition, it is also necessary to consider the market's ability to recover in the near future to restructure the portfolio in a way that minimises risks.”

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index posted a loss of 0.57 per cent to end at 234.50 points. — VNS