Vietnamese shares sank on Friday morning as investors remained pessimistic about the short-term prospects due to the lack of supportive information.

The benchmark VN Index on HCM Stock Exchange slipped by 0.56 per cent to close at 1,023.09 points. It had dropped by 3.1 per cent in the previous three sessions.

The HNX Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell by 0.63 per cent to end at 120.19 points, marking the fourth declining session in a row following its three-day decline of a total of 4.4 per cent.

More than 91.6 million shares, worth VND2.42 trillion (US$107.5 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

The market breadth was negative with 125 gaining stocks against 273 declining ones, while 105 others ended flat.

Among the losing industries on the stock market were insurance-finance-banking, energy, rubber production and food and beverages.

Large-cap stocks were hit by increasing profit-taking. The VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, was down by 0.70 per cent to 1,012.60 points.

Seventy per cent of the 30 largest stocks in the VN30 basket declined, including FLC Faros Construction, insurer Bao Viet Holdings, property developer Novaland and budget carrier Vietjet.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS