HÀ NỘI – Shares declined after three days of growth as profit-taking pressure increased after a long rally.

The benchmark VN-Index decreased 0.7 per cent to close Friday at 1,012.65 points. The southern market index gained 3.6 per cent in the three previous sessions.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged down 0.49 per cent to end at 118.92 points, trimming down the weekly gain to just 1.7 per cent.

Selling pressure increased in large-cap stocks, especially in those recording substantial gains in past rallies.

Dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), the biggest listed company by market value, was down 0.6 per cent to settle at VNĐ213,500 (US$9.36) per share, ending its seven-session winning streak. VNM climbed over 8 per cent in the past seven trades.

VinGroup (VIC) dropped 1.2 per cent following a three-day rally.

Insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) slumped 2.2 per cent despite the company reporting a record consolidated sales of $1.5 billion in 2017, up 21.5 per cent year-on-year.

Big losers also included Vietcombank (VCB), Mobile World Investment Group (MWG), FPT Corp (FPT), PV Gas (GAS), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Vietinbank (CTG) with decreases of between 1-4 per cent each.

Twenty-two of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on HCM City’s exchange lost value while only six gained.

Meanwhile, overall market condition was negative with 274 stocks falling, 202 rising and 248 closing flat in the two markets.

“The correction was necessary with prices of stocks increasing rapidly. However, with the current strong cash inflow, the market may quickly rebound in the coming week,” analysts at BIDV Securities Co wrote in a report yesterday.

Despite strong selling pressure, analysts said that high liquidity demonstrated the high demand of investors.

“We still recommend investors to increase their exposure in stocks with good business results in 2017,” the analysts said.

A total of 356.4 million shares worth a combined VNĐ9.06 trillion ($397.3 million) were traded in the two markets yesterday, up 66.4 per cent in trading volume and 26 per cent in trading value compared to Thursday’s figures.

Such high liquidity was partly driven by active trade in HDBank (HDB) which yesterday debuted nearly 981 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange.

Over 32.2 million HDB shares were traded worth VNĐ1.24 trillion, making it the most active stock nationwide.

Foreign investors bought a net value of VNĐ437.4 billion on HCM City’s bourse but offloaded shares worth a net value of VNĐ265 billion in Hà Nội’s market. – VNS