Customers conduct transactions at a Vietcombank office. Shares of the bank fell nearly 1 per cent on Friday, erasing over 1 points from the VN-Index. — Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — The stock market closed the week on a negative note after profit-taking intensified broadly, while foreign investors returned to net buying trend. 

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index fell 12.36 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 1,828.34 points. 

Market breadth tilted to the sell side. On HoSE, there were 224 declining stocks versus 90 advancing names.

Notably, about 35 per cent of listed stocks fell by more than 1 per cent, and the count of stocks down over 2 per cent rose to 65, nearly double compared with the morning.

Liquidity, however, increased from the previous session to over VNĐ17 trillion (US$647 million).

The VN30-Index, which tracked the 30 biggest in market capitalisation on the southern bourse, also fell 16.29 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 1,970.82 points. In the VN30 basket, 23 stocks fell, while only five increased and two ended unchanged. 

Banking stocks, a pillar group, were among the areas under pressure. Several large-cap tickers fell, including Techcombank (TCB), VPBank (VPB), Vietinbank (CTG), Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), Sacombank (STB) and TPBank (TPB). All these stocks dropped at least 1 per cent.

On the other hand, only a handful remained positive, such as LPBank (LPB) up 1.91 per cent, SeaBank (SSB) up 1.88 per cent and NamABank (NAB) up 0.38 per cent.

The securities sector was also a focus of the selling pressure, with declines seen across major names. 

VIX Securities (VIX) fell 3.74 per cent, Vietcap (VCI) lost 2.59 per cent, FPT Securities (FTS) declined 2.72 per cent, Vietinbank Securities (CTS) fell 2.45 per cent, VIDirect Securities (VND) dropped 1.91 per cent and Ho Chi Minh Secutities (HCM) decreased 1.07 per cent.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index declined 2.91 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 303.76 points. 

A rare bright spot for the session came from foreign investors. After several sessions of choppy trade, foreign participants reportedly returned to net buying on the HoSE, offloading nearly VNĐ1.4 trillion. 

The main focus of disbursement was Vingroup (VIC), with net buy value exceeding VNĐ1.69 trillion, driven mainly by negotiated transactions during the afternoon session. — BIZHUB/VNS