An investor looks at stock prices on a smartphone at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City.
Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. 

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index dropped 0.69 percent to 1,247.25 points Thursday, dragged down by seven blue-chip lenders ending in the red. 

The index shot up to around 1,265 points in the morning before plunging in the afternoon and ended with a near 9-point fall.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 6.2 percent to VND20.55 trillion ($892 million). The bourse saw 141 tickers gain and 294 lose.

Seven lenders pulled the index down by a total 4.8 points, led by VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank, which fell 1.2 percent.

VCB has dropped by over 7 percent since this year’s peak in early January.

BID of state-owned lender BIDV lost 2.2 percent. The ticker has fallen by nearly 12 percent since this year’s peak in mid-January.

Other lenders that ended in the red include TCB of largest private lender Techcombank, down 2.2 percent, and CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank, down 1.3 percent.

On the winning side, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup pushed the index up by over 2 points.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the second time in a row to the tune of VND833 billion, with strongest pressure on VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.44 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.84 percent.