Workers loading Hoa Phat's steel products on a truck. The company shares surged 1.6 per cent on Thursday after a long losing streak. - Photo hoaphat.com.vn

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) ended the day at 1,268.57 points, up 0.14 points, or 0.01 per cent. It rose 0.22 per cent in the morning trade.

The market's breadth remained positive as more stocks gained points, of which 252 stocks climbed, while 191 stocks declined. However, liquidity decreased over the last session. Accordingly, the matching value on the southern bourse fell by 18 per cent to nearly VND13 trillion (US$559.8 million).

The index edged higher for the third consecutive session, but gains were pared by stronger selling pressure. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index dropped 1.2 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 1,309.5 points.

Of the VN30 basket, 12 stocks advanced, while 15 plunged and three stayed flat.

Supporting the bullish trend, Vinhomes (VHM) was up nearly 1.2 per cent on Thursday, leading the upside. It was followed by Hoa Phat Group (HPG), BIDV (BID), Petrolimex (PLX) and Techcombank (TCB) with a rise of around 0.55-2.78 per cent. HPG jumped sharply after falling for five straight days.

On the contrary, many large-cap stocks faced strong sell-offs such as Vietcombank (VCB) (-0.39 per cent), Novaland (NVL) (-1.14 per cent), Masan Group (MSN) (-1.72 per cent) and Becamex (BCM) (-0.27 per cent).

Analysts of Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that as the market has rebounded strongly, investors may choose potential long-term stocks to avoid the short-term risks. However, investors should patiently wait for the next corrections to disburse their investments, SHS recommended.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index reversed the upside course to finish lower on Thursday. Of which, it slipped 1.62 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 313.29 points.

During the trade, more than 81.9 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth nearly VND1.6 trillion.

Meanwhile, foreign investors net sold on both main exchanges. Specifically, they net sold VND278.5 billion on HoSE and VND512.84 million on HNX.