Workers process rubber in Gia Lai Province. Shares of Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) lead the market-wide downtrend on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices moved in different directions on Friday as blue-chip stocks saw a withdrawal in capital while foreign investors continue net selling for 17 straight sessions.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) finished the day at 1,245.32 points, down 13.77 points, or 1.09 per cent.

On the southern bourse, the breadth was negative as 266 stocks ticked down, while 69 increased. Liquidity hovered above VNĐ20.8 trillion (US$815 million), an increase of 37 per cent from the previous session.

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE by market capitalisation, also dropped 10.71 points, or 0.83 per cent, down to 1,278.32 points. The number of decliners surpassed gainers in the VN30 basket by 18 to nine while three stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks in the banking and manufacturing sectors led the market's downturn, with Vietnam Rubber Group Joint Stock Company (GVR) posting the biggest fall in market capitalisation of 5 per cent, contributing to a decrease of more than 1.7 points in the VN-Index.

Banking stocks also saw poor performance on Friday. Bank for Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) declined 1.93 per cent, Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG) fell 0.96 per cent, and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) tumbled 1.84 per cent.

Losses were capped by gains in some pillar stocks, led by Eximbank (EIB). Shares of the lender rose 3 per cent, contributing nearly 0.25 point to the VN-Index.

It was followed by Vingroup Joint Stock Company (VIC), which increased by 0.49 per cent and Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM) rose 0.31 per cent.

The Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) index also finished lower on Friday afternoon, declining 1.03 per cent to 237.59 points.

During the session, more than VNĐ1.4 trillion worth of shares were traded, equivalent to a trading volume of over 76 million shares on the northern bourse.

Foreign investors on Friday continued to have a very strong net selling session on the Vietnamese stock market with more than VNĐ1.2 trillion. Thus, this block has had 17 consecutive sessions of net selling. — VNS