Vietnamese shares declined on Thursday after rising for four consecutive sessions, due to large-cap stocks underperforming as investors sold in pursuit of cutting losses amid the market’s recent volatility.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell sharply by 3.89 per cent, to close at 947.24 points. The index had gained 1.06 per cent in the last two sessions.

More stocks moved to the downside on the southern bourse, of which only 21 ticker symbols inched higher, while 447 stocks finished lower.

Nearly 699 million shares were traded on HoSE, worth nearly VND10.8 trillion (US$402.3 million).

"VN-Index returned to the support level of 950 points and may retest this support in the next trading sessions. BSC recommended investors maintain the current proportion of the portfolio and wait for more positive signals of the market," said BIDV Securities Co (BSC).

The benchmark index was pressured by losses in large-cap stocks, with the 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index posting a decrease of 4.38 per cent, to 936.80 points. No stocks in the VN30 basket jumped, while 29 stocks slid and one stock ended flat.

The worst performers in the VN-30 basket were pillar stocks in the banking, retail and real estate industries. Biggest losers included Vietinbank (CTG), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG), Novaland (NVL), Phat Dat Real Estate (PDR), Sacombank (STB) and VPBank (VPB). They all hit the daily limit decline of 7 per cent.

Securities stocks decreased towards the end of the session. VN-Index's loss was significantly broadened as securities stocks declined strongly, such as VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), Viet Capital Incorporation (VCI), Agribank Securities Corporation (AGR) and APG Securities Joint Stock Company (APG).

Energy stocks also performed negatively with losers such as Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC).

On a sector basis, all 25 sector indices on the stock market lost ground, including insurance, retail, banking, wholesale, construction, rubber production, logistics, real estate, and securities.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also finished lower. It lost 4.47 per cent, to 192.39 points.

During the session, VND775 billion worth of shares, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 60 million shares, was traded on the northern market. — VNS