Vietnamese shares declined on Thursday, dragged by market heavyweights as selling pressure increased significantly towards the closing minutes of trading.

The market inched slightly higher on Thursday morning, boosted by bank stocks while losses in other large-cap stocks pared the gains.

Viet Nam’s stock market settled higher on Wednesday, reversing the morning course as many stocks recovered from earlier losses. Meanwhile, foreign investors continued to flee from the market.

The number of new stock trading accounts opened by domestic individual investors in April reached some 110,000, a nearly three-fold increase compared with the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository.

The market edged lower on Wednesday morning as many big stocks across key sectors faced strong selling pressure.

Despite the continued negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, listed companies are racing to report huge profits in their financial statements for the first quarter. These manipulated numbers are usually tricks that most investors fail to recognize.

The market reversed course to trade lower on Tuesday as selling pressure reappeared. However, it pared some losses in some stocks.