Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares struggled to extendgains on both local exchanges on September 6, weighed down by low investorconfidence.
The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up0.16 percent to close at 793.55 points.
The southern market index has extended gains for a fifth sessionwith total growth of 2.5 percent.
The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange gained 0.11 percent toend at 104.50 points, capping a total increase of 0.7 percent over the last twosessions.
More than 197 million shares were traded on both local exchanges,worth 4.14 trillion VND (184.3 million USD).
September 6’s trading figures were down slightly in trading volumebut up in value compared to the previous session.
The market’s gains on September 6 were attributed to positiveperformances from a few large-cap stocks, including VPBank (VPB), PetroVietnamGas (GAS), steel producer Hoa Phat Group (HPG), FLC Faros Construction (ROS)and Vicostone (VCS).
Among those stocks, GAS and shares of other energy companies wereboosted by the rise of global crude oil prices.
Brent crude was up 1.1 percent to trade at nearly 54 USD a barrel.It has increased by total 6.1 percent since the end of August.
However, market trading conditions were what worried investors asother large-cap stocks underperformed, with nearly two-thirds of the 30 largestcompanies by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index ending in negativeterritory.
Among declining blue chips were dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM),real estate firm Vingroup (VIC) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam(BID).
Overall, declining stocks outnumbered gaining ones by 273 to 181.
According to Bao Viet Securities (BVSC), the struggling indices onSeptember 6 proved that profit-taking pressured local markets, especiallyspeculative mid- and small-cap stocks.
Though market trading liquidity improved on September 6, it stayedbelow the average of the last 21 trading sessions, showing investor confidenceremained low, BVSC said.
Investors were concerned the market would struggle to rise furtherin the short-term as the current rally mainly came from the increase of a fewindividual large-cap stocks, not from stocks as a whole, BVSC added.
“Therefore, the stock market will fall into a short-termcorrection period as the large-cap stocks will soon lose their steam and willnot be strong enough to continue lifting the market.”-VNA