HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s benchmark VN Index rose slightly yesterday as recent growth of local stocks triggered investors to sell to make some profit.

The benchmark index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.19 per cent to close at 1,050.11 points, making gains in all five trading sessions of the week with a weekly growth of 3.7 per cent.

The minor HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange fell 1.70 per cent to end at 120.76 points after increasing 0.75 per cent on Thursday.

The northern market index has gone through a volatile week, growing 1.5 per cent from the previous trading week.

The stock market was dominated by losing stocks, which outnumbered gainers by 275 to 217.

More than 490.5 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ11.9 trillion (US$531.5 million).

Both local exchanges posted a new record high in trading value, which was up 31 per cent compared to Thursday.

Trading condition among large-cap stocks was poor as 21 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 Index declined, narrowing the growth of the large-cap index to 0.25 per cent from 1 per cent.

On the sector basis, shares of banks, energy firms, insurance companies, rubber-plastic producers and retailers were the worst-performing industries.

Those industry indices dropped between 1 per cent and 2.5 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Among those companies, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB) and Sacombank (STB) plunged 4.6 per cent each. SHB gained total 11.4 per cent in the previous four sessions while STB soared 21.7 per cent in a six-day period.

On the opposite side, real estate and securities shares were among the best gainers as investor confidence was high in those firms for their earnings prospects.

According to market strategy expert Ngô Quốc Hưng at Vietinbank Securities Company, the earnings season is revealing companies that have posted big profits and plan for sustainable development.

“Worthy opportunities are presenting among financial services firms and property developers,” Hưng said.

Among real estate firms, Đà Nẵng Housing Investment Development JSC (NDN) has estimated its net profit for the last quarter could reach VNĐ25.5 billion and the figure for the whole last year could be VNĐ80 billion.

The full-year net profit outpaced the firm’s target by 220 per cent. The company shares on Friday surged 5.6 per cent to VNĐ11,300 per share.

According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company (SHS), recent market volatility signalled a strong mix among local stocks and sectors as investors attempted to offload parts of their portfolios.

Therefore, the Hà Nội-based brokerage firm forecast the market would encounter difficulties to extend its growth next week and the VN Index could move narrowly between 1,040 and 1,060 points. — VNS