A banker guiding a customer on how to use VPBank's ATM. The bank shares surged nearly 1.5 per cent yesterday, boosting the market's sentiment. Photo vpbank.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The market finished mixed in the last trading session of the week, with the VN-Index once again failing to breach the 1,400-point level. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index inched slightly higher as selling force weighed on some pillar stocks. The index closed at 1,392.7 points, up 0.85 points, or 0.06 per cent.

In the morning trade, it gained nearly 5.5 points to 1,397.32 points as many large-cap stocks, especially in the banking and real estate sectors, witnessed a strong rebound after falling for two consecutive sessions. 

The market's breadth turned negative with 215 stocks declined while 207 edged higher. The liquidity was almost unchanged as investors poured nearly VNĐ22.1 trillion (US$970.17 million) into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of more than 784.5 million shares. 

The benchmark was still supported by large-cap stocks, with the 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index up 1.46 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 1,504.84 points. 

Of the top three stocks influencing the market's trend, VPBank were the biggest gainer, up 1.49 per cent, followed by Hoà Phát Group (HPG) and Sabeco (SAB). 

Supporting the uptrend, Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB), TPBank (TPB) and PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) also posted good performance, up in a range of 0.63 - 4.68 per cent. 

The index's gain was capped by surging selling pressure on some pillar stocks. Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that Saigon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) led the downtrend, with a fall of 5 per cent. 

Losses in Vietjet Aviation JSC (VJC), Masan Group (MSN) and Vinhomes (VHM) also weighed on the market's sentiment. 

Analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities (SHS) said that the benchmark closed above the support zone of 1,375 - 1,380 points, so there is still chance for it to head toward the psychological level of 1,400 points. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index was stable at 384.84 points.

During the trading session, nearly 118.8 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth more than VNĐ2.69 trillion. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors came back to HoSE as they net bought a value of VNĐ83.3 billion on the exchange. However they net sold a value of VNĐ21.23 billion on the northern market. VNS