Inside Hòa Phát's galvanised steel factory in Hưng Yên Province. HPG lost 1.4 per cent on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Stocks dropped slightly on Friday, pressured by the slump of large-caps in the banking stock group.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index lost 0.11 per cent to close at 1,069.71 points. The index had lost 0.92 per cent to close Thursday at 1,070.91 points.

Market breadth was negative, with 159 gainers and 219 decliners.

Some 646 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ10.8 trillion (US$460.6 million).

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, stayed flat at 1,078.88 points. In the basket, 12 stocks climbed, four stayed flat, and 14 slid.

Losers in the VN-30 basket included PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Hoà Phát Group (HPG), Mobile World Group (MWG), Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE).

Banking stocks suffered from strong selling pressure during the final trading minutes of the session. Those slumping included Vietinbank (CTG), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB), National Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NVB), Military Bank (MBB), Techcombank (TCB), and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID).

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Sacombank (STB) were the only two gainers.

“VN-Index suddenly dropped at the end of the session after a day of struggling in the range of 1,078-1,080," said BIDV Securities Co. "The index ended the session at 1,069.71, down more than 1 point compared to yesterday.”

“Regarding the transactions of foreign investors, today they were net sellers on the two exchanges of HoSE and HNX. In the next trading sessions, VN-Index may continue to experience shaking sessions, 1,060-1,065 will be the next support area if the index continues to decrease in line with the movement of VN30. It is recommended that investors trade cautiously in the coming sessions.” 

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ219.9 billion on HOSE, including Khang Điền House (KDH) with VNĐ44.19 billion, Sacombank (STB) with VNĐ40.43 billion, Đất Xanh Group (DXG) with VNĐ39.88 billion. They were net sellers on HNX with a value of VNĐ15.05 billion.

On a sector basis, 23 out of 25 sector indices on the stock market lost ground, including wholesale, construction, rubber production, IT and logistics, agriculture, real estate, food and beverage, retail, seafood production, and plastic and chemical production.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) rose 0.08 per cent to close Friday at 211.60 points.

Over 103.7 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ1.4 trillion. — VNS