HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s benchmark VN-Index bounced back strongly on Friday from the previous massive sell-off on improved investor confidence and purchasing power.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 1.47 per cent to close at 979.63 points.

The southern market index shed 2.50 per cent (nearly 25 points) on Thursday – the hardest fall it has made since October 11, 2018.

The stock market tumbled on Thursday as investors worried about the result of the US-North Korea summit, which ended the same day without an official mutual agreement, thus triggering a sell-off in local stocks.

The VN-Index was the worst-performing index across Asia-Pacific markets on Thursday, followed by the South Korean market index Kospi (1.76 per cent).

On Thursday, the southern market capitalisation shed nearly VNĐ82 trillion (US$3.52 billion) following the decline.

However, that was an over-reaction made by investors and another reason was the market’s strong growth since returning from the week-long Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday, according to some analysts.

The market decline helped send stocks down to cheaper prices and encouraged stronger purchases on Friday.

The VN-Index started advancing at the beginning of Friday’s session as buying power focused on blue-chips and kept increasing during the session, BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said in its daily report.

Among large-cap stocks that advanced on Friday were property developer Vinhomes (VHM) and Vingroup (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB) and brewer Sabeco (SAB), which lost between 2.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent on Thursday.

The recovery of large-cap stocks boosted the blue-chip VN30 Index up 1.14 per cent to 915.32 points at the end of the day.

Among 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, 25 increased while only three declined.

“Aside from the recovery of large-cap stocks, mid-cap and small-cap stocks also performed well to help raise market performance,” Thành Công Securities JSC (TCSC) said in a note.

FLC Group (FLC), GTN Foods JSC (GTN) and Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAG) were among the top five most active stocks on the southern bourse with their trading volumes ranging from 5.37 million to 6.1 million shares.

The three mid-cap and small-cap stocks gained between 1.3 per cent and 6.8 per cent.

However, there were some factors hindering the market’s short-term uptrend such as the trading liquidity, which did not go along with the market growth, according to BSC.

More than 170 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.05 trillion. The figures were down about a quarter in both volume and value compared to Thursday.

Foreign investors remaining as net sellers for a second straight day was also a concern, BSC said.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ100 billion worth of stocks on the southern bourse. Their net sell value on Thursday was VNĐ350 billion.

“There are still many potential risks,” BSC added.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX Index gained 1.32 per cent to end at 107.26 points, ending a two-day decline of total 1.67 per cent.

More than 32.4 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ436 billion. — VNS