HÀ NỘI – Shares declined on Friday on both national stock exchanges before the National Independence Day Holiday, led by heavyweight stocks.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange started to slide in the early afternoon session after surpassing the 1,000-point mark in the morning. It closed down 0.85 per cent at 989.54 points.

Ending Friday, the southern benchmark index gained 0.25 per cent for the week

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gave up 0.7 per cent to end Friday at 112.79 points, but it increased over 1 per cent against the previous week.

Liquidity decreased slightly from Thursday’s levels, with a total of 228.6 million shares worth VNĐ5.45 trillion (US$233 million) traded on the two markets.

Losses of Vinhomes (VHM) and other shares in the VN30 (tracking the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange) weighed on the whole market.

Vinhomes rose strongly in the morning trade but unexpectedly lost 3.2 per cent in the afternoon.

Other losers included big companies in the banking-finance, energy and retail sectors, such as Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Military bank (MBB) Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), PV Gas (GAS), Mobile World Group (MWG), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Phú Nhuận Jewelry JSC (PNJ) with losses of between 1.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent each.

On the other end of the spectrum, gains of some blue chips cushioned the market, especially Bình Minh Plastics (BMP), up 3.7 per cent; Petrovietnam Fertiliser & Chemicals Corporation (DPM), up 2.6 per cent; Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB), up 1.6 per cent; and insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), up 1 per cent.

“After today’s decline, the VN-Index is expected to continue the ebb and flow after the market reopens after the holiday,” said Khiếu Trọng Huy, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities Co.

“Possibility of rising trade tensions between the United States and China after September 6 will pose risks to the Vietnamese market,” Huy wrote in a daily market report yesterday.

Shares in most major markets in Asia underperformed on Friday following a report that US President Donald Trump was planning to step up a trade war with Beijing.

Foreign traders concluded Friday as net buyers with net buy value of VNĐ4 billion. However, their buys focused on the Hà Nội exchange with net value of VNĐ31 billion. They were net sellers in HCM City, responsible for net sell value of VNĐ27 billion.

The stock market will close on Monday and re-open on Tuesday. – VNS