Shares on the HCM Stock Exchange rebounded in the last trading minutes on Thursday, propped up by the recovery of heavyweight stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index sank into the red for most of the morning and early afternoon session. The situation only changed at the close of the order-matching session with the upturn of financial stocks, especially Vietinbank (CTG) which closed up 3.8 per cent.

Closing Thursday’s trade, the VN-Index increased 0.3 per cent to end at 964.28 points. The southern market index lost over 1.7 per cent on Wednesday.

Many large caps such as lender BIDV (BID), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Petrolimex (PLX), Mobile World Group (MWG) and Military Bank (MBB) also recovered, rising between 1.7-2.9 per cent.

Other stocks in the VN30 which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity such as brewer Sabeco (SAB), Vinamilk (VNM), Vingroup (VIC) and Vincom Retail (VRE) increased by less than 1 per cent each.

Some laggards restraining the market rise included Masan Group (MSN), PV Gas (GAS), Habeco (BHN), Vietjet (VJC) and DHG Pharmaceutical (DHG).

Overall, sixteen stocks in the VN30 advanced and only eight declined.

“After falling sharply the previous day, the market continued to test the supply in today’s session. Although large caps rescued the market in the last minutes, the risk has risen,” said Vu Duong, a stock analyst at Viet Dragon Securities Co, in the daily market report on Thursday.

According to Duong, the VN-Index stayed above its support at around 960 points which indicates the current uptrend is still valid but not strong. Therefore, investors should be cautious and actively reduce the proportion of stocks if the index falls below this level.

The VN-Index has increased over 1 per cent since August 1.

Meanwhile on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined for a third day, down 0.1 per cent to end at 107.92 points. It lost 2.3 per cent in the last three sessions.

Liquidity decreased when 216.5 million shares worth a combined VND5 trillion (US$218.4 million) were exchanged on the two markets, down 14.4 per cent in volume and 7.4 per cent in value compared to the previous session.

Foreign investors returned to being net sellers, offloading shares worth total VND327 billion in the two markets. Their sales focused on shares in HCM City including Vingroup (VND73.5 billion), Vinamilk (VND62 billion) and Saigon Securities Inc (VND40 billion). — VNS