Vietnamese shares inched down on Friday morning as large-cap and mid-cap stocks were weighed down by selling pressure.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange slid 0.17 per cent to end at 838.63 points.

The VN-Index had gained total 5.22 per cent in the previous four straight days.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index dropped 0.19 per cent to 780.12 points in the morning session.

Nineteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity declined while nine increased.

Eximbank (EIB), retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG), PetroVietnam Power (POW), aviation firm Vietjet (VJC), Sacombank (STB) and brewer Sabeco (SAB) decreased by 0.7 per cent to 1.8 per cent.

The mid-cap tracker VNMID-Index edged down 0.41 per cent to 859.66 points.

Meanwhile, the small-cap sector was up 0.39 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.61 per cent to close Friday morning at 112.66 points.

The northern market index declined by 0.59 per cent on Thursday.

Nearly 173 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND2.63 trillion (US$113.5 million).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS