Shares of Hoa Phat Group performed well on Friday, rising nearly 2.5 per cent. — Photo hoaphat.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — After a sharp decline in the morning session, the Vietnamese stock market showed signs of recovery on Friday, with increased buying interest helping the VN-Index narrow its losses. 

Despite closing in the negative zone, the index managed to maintain a crucial psychological level of 1,700 points, buoyed by the recovery of several key stocks.

The VN-Index on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed the week at 1,729.8 points, down 13.05 points, or 0.75 per cent. It lost over 52 points earlier in the day. 

On the southern bourse, the number of decliners was still double that of gainers, while liquidity soared from the previous session to nearly VNĐ32.7 trillion (US$1.2 billion).

Meanwhile, the VN30 index saw improved performance, with the number of advancing stocks rising to 10, up from only four at midday. However, it still finished lower at 1,965.97 points, down 10.24 points, or 0.52 per cent. 

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index fell 0.45 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 250.53 points.

The Vin stock group all finished the session lower. Notably, Vingroup (VIC) fell by 1.9 per cent, Vinhomes (VHM) by 3.76 per cent and Vincom Retail (VRE) by 0.78 per cent, while Vinpearl (VPL) hit the floor price.

VPL's decline was compounded by the resignation of CEO Đặng Thanh Thuỷ, adding to the stock's downward momentum.

Shares in the real estate sector also faced challenges, with notable declines including Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation (PDR) decreasing 0.77 per cent, Khang Dien House (KDH) falling 0.31 per cent, Novaland (NVL) down 0.38 per cent, Kinh Bac City (KBC) declining 0.75 per cent and DIC Group (DIG) down 1.69 per cent.

In the finance and banking sectors, performance was mixed. Some stocks rebounded, such as Sacombank (STB), which rose by 2.86 per cent, SSI Securities (SSI) by 0.82 per cent, Vietcap (VCI) by 3.49 per cent and Vietinbank (CTG) by 0.57 per cent. 

Conversely, several other stocks experienced declines, including VPBank (VPB), LPBank (LPB), Sahabank (SHB) and VIX Securities (VIX).

In contrast, Hoa Phat Group's HPG stock showed a strong performance, rising by 2.48 per cent. 

HPG maintained high liquidity with over 94 million shares traded, equating to a transaction value of over VNĐ2.5 trillion, making it one of the most liquid stocks of the day. 

The uptick in HPG coincided with the company's recent announcement of a price increase for construction steel.

The steel groups also witnessed gains, with Nam Kim Group (NKG) increasing by 2.34 per cent and VNSteel (TVN) by 1.35 per cent. 

Pomina Steel Corporation (POM) also hit the ceiling price, marking its eighth consecutive session of gains, despite being limited to trading only on Fridays.

Meanwhile, foreign investors were net sellers today, offloading more than VNĐ1.1 billion worth of shares on HoSE and VNĐ63.84 billion on HNX.  — BIZHUB/VNS