VN-Index heads sideways after surge

The index mostly stayed in the green throughout the day but started to fall within the last trading hour. It closed 0.14 points higher after gaining 35.05 points on Wednesday.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fell by almost 17 percent to VND13.77 trillion ($593.4 million).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 15 tickers dropped.

POW of Petrovietnam Power lost 1.9 percent, followed by MSN of conglomerate Masan Group and STB of HCMC-based lender Sacombank, dropping 1.7 and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Other losers included VPB of private lender VPBank and MBB of MBBank, both closing 1.4 percent lower.

Thirteen blue chips gained, with PLX of fuel distributor Petrolimex surging 2.8 percent.

SSI of leading brokerage SSI Corporation rose 2.3 percent, and HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat ended its five-session losing streak with a 1.6 percent gain.

PDR of property developer Phat Dat surged 1.5 percent, and BVH of insurance company Bao Viet Holdings rose 1.3 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND278.5 billion, focusing on HPG and DXG of real estate developer Dat Xanh Group.

The HNX-Index at the Hanoi Stock Exchange, where mid and small caps list, was down 0.51 percent while the UPCoM-Index at the Unlisted Public Companies Market was down by 0.24 percent.