HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s benchmark VN-Index closed down on Friday, erasing its early gain as large-cap shares were sent lower by strong investor selling.

The key index on the HCM Stock Exchange finished at 712.41 points, slightly lower than the previous closing level. It fell 0.6 per cent on Thursday.

The major stock exchange on Friday recorded an all-time trading value with VNĐ6.5 trillion (US$289.1 million) worth of more than 202 million shares exchanged.

The significant rise in trading value was attributed to the negotiation-based transaction for 60 million shares of consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), worth VNĐ2.52 trillion.

Stocks on the southern bourse had a mixed performance with the number of gainers balancing the number of losers.

The VN30 Index, tracking the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, saw 13 declining stocks against 11 increasing ones.

Worst decliners included Vietinbank (CTG), Bình Minh Plastic (BMP), PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals (DPM), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM) and Sacombank (STB).

Energy stocks were down on the volatile global oil prices. Brent crude was bumpy and trade at $52.99 a barrel, equal to Thursday’s closing price.

On the opposite side, the southern bourse was supported by some firms such as property developer Novaland (NVL) and HCM City Securities (HCM).

Among those companies, Novaland’s shares gained 2.4 per cent after its chairman Bùi Thành Nhơn registered to buy more than 19.5 million shares of Novaland within one month from April 24.

HCM City Securities (HCM) inched up 0.2 per cent after the company announced its first-quarter post-tax profit reached VNĐ95 billion, up 47 per cent from last year’s first quarter.

The HCM Stock Exchange on Friday also saw the debut of the Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) under code PLX with the listing of nearly 1.3 billion shares at the opening price of VNĐ43,200 per share.

With the debut, Petrolimex became one of the 10 largest companies in the stock market. The company’s shares jumped 13.2 per cent on Friday.

Investor confidence helped keep the VN-Index positive during most of the time Friday due to increasing earnings reported by listed firms and the listing of Petrolimex, BIDV Securities (BSC) said in a note.

However, the benchmark index lost its momentum and ended slightly down as investors were still cautious over potential global risks, the broker said.

In the current market condition, if the VN Index accumulates at the level of 710 points next week, the stock market will rise, BSC said.

The HNX-Index on the minor Hà Nội Stock Exchange gained 0.46 per cent to finish at 88.87 points. The northern market index had dropped 0.7 per cent in total in the previous two days. — VNS