A branch of MBBank in Nguyen Du Street, Hanoi. The bank's shares fell more than 1.9 per cent on Thursday. VNS Photo Mai Huong

Hanoi - Indices fell more than 1 per cent on Thursday due to strong selling force, while foreign investors continued to pour capital into the southern market.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) dropped nearly 13 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 1,125.39 points. The correction today ended the index's recent rising streak. It had gained for seven days in a row on Wednesday.

Analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities (SHS) said that the market still has bullish momentum for the short term but will face many unpredictable fluctuations in the upcoming sensitive zone. The market needs to create a foundation before accumulating enough strength to overcome the resistance level of 1,150 points.

The market has performed well in the past six months with a reliable accumulation model. After consecutive short-term recoveries, the VN-Index is currently at a strong resistance area of around 1,150 points. If it surpasses this resistance level, it will form a medium-term uptrend.

"But we think that the market will need more time to accumulate before surpassing this resistance, and it needs more support from positive macro factors to form a bull market," SHS said.

The country's economy remains muted, making it difficult to forecast, especially for the real estate and export markets due to the slow growth of the global economy and declining orders.

However, interest rates tend to decrease and stabilise, helping the cash flow in the market become more stable, the securities firm added.

Most of the stocks across all sectors were in the red.

Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that Hòa Phát Group (HPG) was the biggest loser on Thursday, with a fall of more than 3 per cent. It was followed by BIDV (BID), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB), Masan Group (MSN), and MBBank (MBB), down in a range of 1.73-2.08 per cent.

On the contrary, some stocks still performed well, such as Vinamilk (VNM) jumping 1.84 per cent, and Vietcombank (VCB) rising 0.79 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) extended its downtrend to the fifth straight session. It closed Thursday at 227.48 points, down 2.77 points, or 1.2 per cent.

Foreign investors were still net buyers on the market as they net bought VNĐ113.47 billion on HoSE, but net sold a value of VND5.84 billion on HNX.