Customers buy petrol at a petrol station of Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) in Hà Nội. PLX lost 5.5 per cent on Friday. VNA/VNS Photo Anh Nguyễn

HÀ NỘI — Bottom-fishing force during Friday’s trading session wasn’t strong enough to rescue the market but it did helped narrow the downward trend of indices.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost 0.97 per cent to end at 761.78 points.

The index had plunged 5.66 per cent to end at 765.45 points on Thursday.

A total of 354.7 million shares worth VNĐ6.2 trillion ($265.6 million) were traded on the southern market.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index - the main driving factor of the stock market - dropped 0.36 per cent to close 716.65 points.

In the VN30 basket, 17 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity declined while ten increased. Three stayed the same.

The stock market had experienced three straight declining sessions on Friday and investors started seeking stocks that suffered sharp falls in previous sessions.

Gainers included Sacombank (STB), increasing by 4.5 per cent to VNĐ10,400 per share and Techcombank (TCB), rising by 1.7 per cent to VNĐ18,250 per share.

Selling pressure was still very strong and weighed on the overall market. Among the worst-performing large-caps were Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), falling 5 per cent, Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), down by 4.7 per cent, Bank for Investment and Development (BID), declining by 4.6 per cent and Mobile World Group (MWG), falling 2.8 per cent.

“VN-Index successfully retested support 710-740 points today. Stock sectors have widely become oversold on a large scale, reinforcing the possibility of a short-term recovery,” said Bảo Việt Securities Co.

“However, even in a rebounding scenario, the index will possibly experience wild volatility and revisit support 710-740 points. The market still faces unexpected movements of COVID-19 pandemic and the net selling pressures from foreign investors. Therefore, it may suffer strong fluctuations in the last sessions of the week.”

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ670.19 billion on the HOSE, including Hoà Phát Group (HPG) (VNĐ111.88 billion), Vietjet (VJC) (VNĐ57.23 billion) and Vinhomes (VHM) (VNĐ51.20 billion). They were net sellers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ22.43 billion.

On a sector basis, 21 out of 25 sectors across the market lost ground.

Dragging the market were energy, agriculture, wholesale, rubber production, logistics, construction, insurance, technology, retail, banking and finance, seafood processing, and food and beverage stocks.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.52 per cent to close Friday at 101.38 points.

The index had decreased 0.64 per cent to end Thursday at 105.52 points. — VNS