Stores at Vincom Mega Mall Times City in Hà Nội. Shopping mall operator Vincom Retail's shares (HoSE: VRE) fell 0.8 per cent on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares pared losses on Friday as some blue chips recovered on bargain hunting power.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.44 per cent to end at 863.52 points.

The VN-Index had its biggest loss in two months on Thursday, tumbling 3.63 per cent, after the US central bank remained pessimistic about future economic growth.

Nearly 620.8 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth VNĐ7.76 trillion (US$332.2 million), which included VNĐ6.9 trillion worth of shares sold immediately.

The VN-Index had lost nearly 3 per cent during the day to touch a one-month low of 841.44 points then quickly bounced back.

Large-caps supported the market's rebound as the blue-chip tracker VN30-Index rose 0.11 per cent to 807.76 points.

Fourteen of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket advanced while 14 others declined.

The best gainers among large-cap stocks were Sacombank (STB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), SSI Securities (SSI), steel producer Hòa Phát (HPG), tech group FPT Corp (FPT) and retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG).

The sub-indices tracking those companies’ sectors were up between 0.4 per cent and 3.0 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

On the opposite side, mall operator Vincom Retail (VRE), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), brewer Sabeco (SAB), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), and residential property firm Vinhomes (VHM) were among large-caps weighing on the market.

The real estate, insurance, and food and beverage sector indices fell 0.9 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent.

“Efforts of investors to buy in discounted stocks proved effective, helping the index cover early losses and return to the reference level,” MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

“Strong cash flow for bargain hunting was a good signal for the market at the moment” as it proved investors were still confident in the market’s prospects, the company said.

High liquidity recorded in the last two days indicated investors were ready to purchase discounted stocks, MBS added.

Technically, the short-term uptrend was maintained, the company said. “The negative impact of the international markets has been fading, shown in the positive trading of European stocks and US stocks futures.”

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 0.73 per cent to close Friday at 116.91 points, picking up from a 3.83 per cent decline in the previous day.

The northern market index had lost as much as 3.56 per cent during the day.

More than 81.6 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ751.3 billion. — VNS