VN stocks lose momentum due to rising profit-taking

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched down 0.03 per cent to close at 969.82 points.

The southern market index gained as much as 0.92 per cent in the early period of the day before regressing. It tumbled 1.89 per cent on Monday.

More than 99 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.9 trillion (US$81 million).

Market breadth was slightly negative with 138 declining stocks, 122 gainers and 63 that ended flat.

Large-cap stocks advanced to limit market losses. The blue-chip VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, gained 0.08 per cent to close at 894.10 points.

Seventeen of the 30 largest stocks in the VN30 basket advanced while nine declined.

Among the gainers were Vinhomes (VHM), SSI Securities (SSI), Vietinbank (CTG), Coteccons Construction Corp (CTD) and Military Bank (MBB).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index rose 0.12 per cent to end at 106.53 points.

The northern market index also suffered from profit-taking pressure, narrowing its growth from as much as 0.84 per cent earlier in the day.

It dropped 1.56 per cent on Monday.

More than 18.7 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND309.4 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm.