Vietnam stocks go flat while Asian shares fall

The index closed 0.03 points higher after gaining 0.88 points in the previous session.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange decreased by 14% to VND14.03 trillion ($564 million).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 12 tickers gained.

STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank led with a 3% rise, followed by BCM of Becamex Investment and Industrial Development, up 2.9%.

VHM of property giant Vinhomes rose 1.5% and HDB of HDBank closed 1.1% higher.

Fourteen blue chips fell. VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail dropped 1.3 % and PLX of fuel distributor Petrolimex fell 1.2%.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the seventh session in a row to the tune of VND112 billion.

They mainly net sold HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and VCI of Viet Capital Securities.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 0.15%, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went down 0.30%.

Asian markets had a tricky session overnight. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3%, with South Korea's and Taiwan's markets dropping 1% and 0.7% respectively as their big chip and tech stocks felt the Nvidia chill, Reuters reported.

"Nvidia, in some ways, has become a victim of its success, its share price soaring over 180% this year and after beating earnings now in 14 of the past 15 quarters," said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.

A near 1% rise in the region's tech shares led the way as traders swerved Wednesday's 7% after-hours slump in AI darling Nvidia's shares after it published results that left some investors unenthused.