HÀ NỘI — Shares lost their positive momentum at the end of Friday’s session due to a sudden increase in sell-offs that dragged on large caps.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange dropped 0.70 per cent to close Friday at 917.97 points. The southern market index rose 0.20 per cent on Thursday.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.27 per cent to end at 104.27 points. The northern exchange index gained 0.63 per cent on Thursday.

Nearly 181 million shares worth a combined VND3.7 trillion (US$159 million) were traded on the two bourses.

Market breadth was balanced with 179 stocks gaining, 253 declining and 317 remaining unchanged.

Massive sell-offs hit 15 of the 20 sectors. Key industries that fell included banking-financial, securities, energy, food and drink and retail, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Banking and mining stocks were the worst hit, sliding 1.3 and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

In the banking group, except for Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Export Import Bank (EIB), all the others retreated. Vietinbank (CTG) fell 2.2 per cent, TPBank (TPB) dropped 2.1 per cent, Vietcombank (VCB) dropped 1.5 per cent and VPBank (VPB) decreased 2.2 per cent.

Oil stocks such as Petro Vietnam Gas JSC (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) and PetroViet Nam Coating JSC (PVB) fell sharply in line with the negative movements of world oil prices.

World oil prices are plummeting, with both Brent and WTI at their lowest levels since early 2018.

Brent crude oil futures fell 80 cents on the day to $61.89 a barrel, having hit a session low of $61.52, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost $1.04 to trade at $53.23 a barrel.

Other blue-chips such as Vinamilk (VNM), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinhomes (VHM) and Sabeco (SAB) also declined.

Hoa Sen Group (HSG) plummeted during Friday’s session, falling 6.1 per cent to close at VNĐ6,950. HSG’s liquidity also jumped with trading volume of nearly 9 million shares, nearly 3 times that of the previous session.

HSG’s downward momentum has not only apppeared in the last few sessions but has been incurring since mid-2017. HSG has lost 76 per cent of its value compared to its peak in mid-2017 of nearly VNĐ30,000. HSG’s closing price on Thursday also marked the lowest since early 2013.

The UPCOM Index lost 0.55 per cent to finish at 51.87 points.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC), the VN-Index was expected to move towards the resistance level of 930-940 points next week. — VNS