Investors watch stock movements at the office of Sài Gòn Securities Inc. in Hà Nội. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Local shares recovered on Friday from a slight fall despite foreign investors ending up as net sellers on the last day of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) portfolio review.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.09 per cent to close at 761.24 points. It fell 0.03 per cent on Thursday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange advanced 0.55 per cent to end at 98.31 points after declining by 0.1 per cent on Thursday.

Friday’s session also marked a weekly gain for both stock indices with the VN Index rising 1.5 per cent week on week and the HNX Index increasing by 1 per cent.

More than 279.6 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth nearly VNĐ5.8 trillion (US$257.6 million) – an increase of 16.5 per cent in volume and 26.8 per cent in value.

The growth of the two local indices was attributed to strong bargain-hunting from domestic investors on the day that the two foreign-based funds VanEck Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM ETF) and FTSE Vietnam ETF (FTSE ETF) completed their second-quarter portfolio reviews, reported tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.

The review pressured local stocks as foreign investors posted a net sell value of VNĐ207.8 billion, a reverse from Thursday’s foreign net sell value of VNĐ268.3 billion.

Foreign investors’ selling focused on large-cap stocks such as dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) and insurance-finance group Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH).

FLC Faros Construction (ROS) hit its daily losing limit of 7 per cent for a third consecutive day despite being added into the two ETFs’ portfolios for the next quarter.  ROS has slumped total 21 per cent in the last three sessions.

On the opposite side, foreign investors bought leading stocks in real estate, healthcare, agriculture and brokerage sectors.

Shares of leading companies in those sectors rose, including DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG), Domesco Medical Import-Export (DMC), Vingroup (VIC), Novaland (NVL), Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and HAGL Agrico.

The VN Index recorded a second weekly gain and the HNX Index has risen for eight weeks with a slight decline of market trading liquidity as investors were cautious on the ETFs’ portfolio reviews, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS).

In the next session, market trading will become more positive as investor confidence turns positive and the VN Index will move up to test the old peak of 763 points, SHS said. — VNS