HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares extended losses for a third straight session on Thursday but investor confidence showed signs of improvement after being brought down by false news and global tension.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange went down slightly to close at 773.43 points, little changed from Wednesday’s closing level.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched down 0.10 per cent to end at 100.97 points.

The two indices have lost total 2.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent after the last three sessions.

More than 257.5 million shares were traded on both local exchanges, worth VNĐ3.87 trillion (US$171.9 million).

The trading figures were down nearly 40 per cent in both volume and value compared to Wednesday’s numbers.

The stock market performed positively on Thursday and it could recover in coming sessions as investor sentiment improved after being rocked a day before, according to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC).

Việt Nam’s stock market on Wednesday tumbled, posting the worst fall in 20 months, after tension between the US and North Korea escalated and false news about the arrest of a former highly-ranking bank executive.

Investor confidence was dampened, which triggered a large-scale sell-off on the stock market, made investors turn to less risky assets such as gold, brought all 20 sectors of the stock market down and resulted in a loss of $2 billion in total market capitalisation.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ said on Thursday that investors should count on the Government and the finance ministry instead of believing rumours, which could damage the stock market on a large scale.

He said that the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission committed to run the stock market in a public, transparent manner to protect the benefits and rights of investors and listed companies.

The sharp decline on Wednesday offered investors a chance to purchase stocks that were hit hard, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS).

Strong investors’ bottom-picking helped the benchmark VN Index recoup a part of its intraday loss on Thursday when it fell back to 770-point level, SHS said in its note.

Market trading liquidity declined sharply from Wednesday and it proved that selling pressure was not high and investor confidence really turned positive, it said.

Investors’ purchases for stocks that were hit hard on Wednesday lifted more than half of the 20 sectors on the market, including insurance, energy, food and beverages, construction and plastic production.

Meanwhile, shares of banks, securities firms and property developers remained negative.

On such conditions, SHS forecast that the VN Index on Friday would fluctuate and move sideways in the range of 777 and 784 points. — VNS