Customers conducting transactions at a BIDV office. The lender's shares soared 1.23 per cent on Friday, lifting the market's benchmark index. — Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — Despite a divergence trend and cautious capital flow, the rebound in blue-chip stocks has enabled the VN-Index to finish the week on a positive note. 

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) recovered after falling for two consecutive sessions. It inched up 5.75 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 1,273.96 points. 

Technically, today’s performance is viewed positively, as the VN-Index returned to its 20-day moving average (MA20). However, a key concern is the persistently low liquidity, which suggests that cautious sentiment continues to prevail.

Liquidity on the southern bourse reached nearly VNĐ15.5 trillion (US$629 million), equivalent to a trading volume of more than 637 million shares. 

Market breadth stayed negative as the number of decliners still exceeded that of gainers by 167 to 144. 

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, also closed higher at 1,315.39 points, up 6.34 points, or 0.48 per cent. In the VN30 basket, 22 stocks ticked up, six decreased and two ended flat. 

In the top 10 largest stocks in term of market capitalisation, there were just four ticker symbols that closed the last trading day of the week with over 1 per cent gains: BIDV (BID), up 1.23 per cent, FPT Corportaion (GPT) at 1.15 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) which climbed 1.43 per cent and Hòa Phát Group (HPG) which jumped 1.4 per cent. 

The blue-chip group's good performance also supported other rallies, such as Sacombank (SBT), which rose 1 per cent, and Vincom Retail (VRE), which surged more than 2 per cent.  

Also contributing to the positive market, the consumer price index (CPI) in August stayed almost unchanged from the previous month as a result of mixed trends in goods and consumer service prices, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Rallies were capped by a lingering selling force, with Vingroup (VIC) posting the biggest loss in market capitalisation. The property developer's shares dipped 0.89 per cent on Friday. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index extended its downtrend to the eighth day in a row and was on track for a weekly loss. It closed down 0.31 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 234.65 points. 

Meanwhile, foreign capital returned to the market as foreign investors net bought on both main exchanges. In particular, they net bought VNĐ233.32 billion on HoSE and VNĐ39.97 billion on HNX. — VNS