A Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) branch. BID lost 1 per cent yesterday. Photo BID

HÀ NỘI — The stock market experienced a minor decline on Thursday as a result of the downward trend observed among prominent banking stocks within the large-cap category.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index lost 0.22 per cent to close at 1,170.37 points. The index had lost 0.38 per cent to close Wednesday at 1,172.97 points.

Market breadth was negative, with 140 gainers and 301 decliners.

Some 540.5 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ11.4 trillion (US$463 million).

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, dropped 0.16 per cent to close at 1,177.52 points. In the basket, seven stocks climbed, seven stayed flat, and 16 slid.

Losers in the VN-30 basket included PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Hoà Phát Group (HPG), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), and Vincom Retail (VRE).

The stock market encountered a modest downturn on Thursday, as the collective performance of banking stocks within the large-cap category weighed heavily on investor sentiment. The downward pressure exerted by these major players in the financial sector contributed to the overall decline in stock prices for the day, said vietstock.vn.

Banking stocks suffered from strong selling pressure during the final trading minutes of the session. Those slumping included Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB), National Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NVB), Military Bank (MBB), Techcombank (TCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Sacombank (STB).

Vietinbank (CTG) and Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) were the only two gainers.

"The unsuccessful recovery effort and the continued contentious state of the market. Liquidity increased compared to the previous session, indicating that there is still supply pressure from profit-taking when the market rises, and the support from cash flows is not yet strong," said Việt Dragon Securities Co (VDSC).

"The contentious and retreating status may continue into the next trading session, but the market is expected to find support around the 1,170-point area and recover thanks to the recent positive trend in the market.

"Therefore, investors can expect the market's ability to receive support and recover. Currently, priority should be given to stocks that are showing positive signals from the support region for holding or accumulative buying."

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) stayed flat at 211.60 points.

Over 42.5 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ713 billion.