Shares were mixed on Thursday, causing the market benchmark VN-Index to fall for the second day in a row, while foreign investors reversed course to net buy on the southern exchange.
On the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index extended losses to close the trading day at 1,283.8 points, down 2.14 points, or 0.17 percent.
The market's breadth, however, was still in positive territory as the number of gainers surpassed that of losers by 168 to 153. Liquidity dropped 15 percent from the previous session to over VND18.5 trillion (US$728.2 million).
The main cause for the down movement was losses in blue-chip stocks.
Statistics showed that a staggering 25 out of 30 stocks in the blue-chip basket witnessed price declines in the afternoon session.
The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks by market capitalization on the HoSE, also performed negatively. It declined 4.69 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,306.22 points. This is its lowest close in six sessions.
Up to 18 ticker symbols in the VN30 basket ticked down, while eight finished higher and four ended flat.
Two pillar stocks, Vingroup (VIC) and Vinhomes (VHM), closed higher, with gains of 1.23 percent and 0.52 percent, respectively. However, the remaining eight stocks in the top ten market in terms of capitalization experienced declines.
Among the few stocks that performed well in the afternoon, Petrolimex (PLX) recorded a 0.54 percent increase.
Securities stocks also showed resilience, with SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) rising 1.31 percent, MB Securities JSC (MBS) up 3.87 percent, VIX Securities JSC (VIX) climbed 1.18 percent and Ho Chi Minh Securities Corporation (HCM) increased 1.44 percent.
By contrast, the HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) finished higher on Thursday, up 0.85 points, or 0.35 percent, to 245.39 points.
During the session, VND1.47 trillion was poured into the northern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of 65.47 million shares.
Foreign capital unexpectedly returned to the southern market today as foreign investors net bought nearly VND5.7 billion on HoSE. However, they still net sold over VND7.6 billion worth of stocks on HNX.
