Customers buy petrol at a Petrolimex petrol station in Hà Nội. Foreign investors bought a net value of more than VNĐ188 billion of Petrolimex's shares on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI – Shares closed the week on a negative note after a three-day rally as many large caps unexpectedly lost value by the end of the session.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index edged down 0.33 per cent to close Friday at 975.40 points. Việt Nam’s benchmark index rose 1.3 per cent in the previous three sessions.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.15 per cent to end at 105.86 points after expanding more than 2 per cent in the last three days.

Trading volume decreased slightly to more than 186 million shares but the value of trades increased nearly 8 per cent to VNĐ4.03 trillion (US$173 million) on the two exchanges.

The market could not sustain the morning rise as many heavyweight stocks declined toward the end of the afternoon session, such as Masan Group (MSN), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinamilk (VNM), Hậu Giang Pharmaceutical (DHG) and Hồ Chí Minh Infrastructure Investment (CII), all dropping by more than 1 per cent.

Banking and oil and gas stocks, the market pillars in the previous rally, also slumped.

Except for HDBank (HDB), all 12 other listed banks lost value, of which Techcombank (TCB) dropped 1.4 per cent; Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB) and BIDV (BID) all decreased by less than 1 per cent.

Despite purchases from foreign investors, shares of Petrolimex (PLX) also edged down 0.2 per cent while PV Gas (GAS) was down 0.4 per cent.

According to Trần Xuân Bách, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities Co, bank stocks would widely diverge with slight upward slope and alternative corrections while oil and gas stocks may experience volatility near resistance zones (985-990 points) before increasing in the short term.

July is the peak time for first-half profit reporting of listed companies. The six-month figures would give investors a better view of the companies’ performance for the whole year.

According to analysts at Saigon Securities Inc, caution waiting for macroeconomic data and first-half earnings would impact investors’ trading. Some would likely stand out of the market and wait for clear information, they said.

“For active investors, the main strategy is to quickly take profits and prioritise selling at high prices. This explains for the downward trend of the index after a strong recovery,” they said in the SSI Retail Research.

Foreign investors increased their buying on Friday, picking up shares worth net value of VNĐ341 billion on the two exchanges, a 2.5-fold increase over Thursday. — VNS