Buildings of the Royal City urban area, a project developed by Vinhomes, in Hà Nội. Shares of Vinhomes dropped over 4 per cent on Friday, leading the market's downtrend. — Photo courtesy of the company

HÀ NỘI — The stock market reversed course in the final minutes of trading on Friday as heavy selling pressure on Vin stocks erased earlier gains and pushed the benchmark index back below the 1,800-point threshold.

The VN-Index remained in positive territory throughout most of the session and at one point climbed nearly 15 points to approach 1,814 points.

However, stronger selling toward the close caused the market to lose momentum.

By the end of the session, the VN-Index on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell nearly seven points, or 0.39 per cent, to 1,791.65 points, extending its retreat from the psychologically important 1,800-point level.

Market breadth on the southern bourse remained negative, with 177 stocks declining against 118 gainers.

Liquidity improved from the previous session but remained relatively subdued.

Trading value on HoSE exceeded VNĐ16.3 trillion (US$621 million), up approximately VNĐ6.2 trillion from the previous day.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN-Index, decreased nearly 3 per cent, or 0.15 per cent, to 1,944.36 points. 

The decline was largely driven by the Vingroup ecosystem.

Shares of Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), Vinpearl (VPL) and Vincom Retail (VRE) all posted sharp losses, collectively erasing over seven points from the benchmark index.

Other real estate stocks also posted negative performance.

Nam Long Group (NLG) fell 2.12 per cent, Dat Xanh Group (DXG) was down 1.16 per cent and Khang Dien House (KDH) lost 1.07 per cent, while Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation (PDR), Kinh Bac City Group (KBC) and DIC Group (DIG) declined by nearly 1 per cent each.

In contrast, banking stocks continued to provide support for the market.

TPBank (TPB) rose 3.15 per cent, while MSB gained 2.74 per cent, Techcombank (TCB) advanced 1.3 per cent and VIB added 1.25 per cent. 

Foreign investors continued their selling streak for a fifth consecutive session on HoSE, posting net sales of more than VNĐ491 billion.

Among the most heavily sold stocks by overseas investors were VIC, with a net selling value of nearly VNĐ89 billion, followed by VHM at over VNĐ77 billion and MBBank (MBB) at nearly VNĐ58.5 billion.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index moved higher. The index added 0.8 per cent, to close at 302.49 points. — BIZHUB/VNS