Vincom Phạm Ngọc Thạch in Hà Nội. Vincom Retail (VRE) and Vincom (VIC) rose 3 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively, yesterday. — VNS Photo Mai Hương

HÀ NỘI — The VN-Index edged up slightly on Thursday despite two-thirds of shares dipping in the red, driven by the growth of heavyweight shares.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index inched up 0.15 per cent to close the day at 1,077.59 points. The northern bourse’s index decreased more than 3 per cent on Wednesday.

Two-thirds of shares on the HoSE lost value, mainly small- and mid-cap shares. From the perspective of industry groups, most of the groups underperformed, except for retail (up 4.2 per cent on average) and banking (0.6 per cent).

Data on vietstock.vn showed 18 out of 25 stock groups recorded losses, led by seafood processing companies (down 2.3 per cent on average), agriculture, logistics, machinery, construction and household appliances with each decreasing more than 1 per cent.

Blue chips were mixed. The market was supported by the growth of five leading stocks – Vietcombank (VCB), Mobile World Investment (MWG), Vingroup (VIC), Masan Group (VIC) and Vincom Retail (VRE) – with a growth rate of between 1.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent.

Increasing cautious sentiment among investors drove liquidity down. Only 635 million shares worth VNĐ11.1 trillion (US$462 million shares) were traded, down around 37 per cent in both volume and value compared to the previous session.

“With the bearish inertia remaining, it is possible that the market will step back to the support area of 1,050-1,060 points of the VN-Index in the next sessions,” said Phương Nguyễn, a market analyst at Viet Dragon Securities Co.

However, Phương reckoned this area will likely stabilise the market and help it recover to re-test supply and demand.

“For the time being, it’s still possible to wait for good prices of stocks that are maintaining a positive accumulation base, but should limit  opening new purchases of stocks that have risen too quickly recently.”

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.32 per cent to end at 215.32 points, expanding the two-day loss to 3.2 per cent.

Nearly 84 million shares worth VNĐ1.2 trillion were exchanged on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, down 36 per cent in volume and 38 per cent in value compared to Wednesday’s figures.

In contrast to domestic investors, foreign traders continued to comb Vietnamese shares. There were responsible for a total net buy value of VNĐ474 billion worth of shares on the two markets on Thursday.