Cows imported from Australia being transported to Vinamilk's farms in Thanh Hóa Province. Shares of Vinamilk (VNM) dropped 1.8 per cent on Friday. — Photo courtesy of Vinamilk

 HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese stock markets ended lower on Friday as a continued rise in coronavirus cases dashed hopes of a swift recovery from the pandemic-hit economic downturn.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.34 per cent to end trading at 798.39 points.

Nearly 250 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ3.9 trillion (US$168 million).

Market breadth was negative with 255 shares falling and 115 gaining.

The southern market index had gained 1.30 per cent to end Thursday at 801.13 points.

Việt Nam confirmed 45 new COVID-19 patients Friday morning, all linked to hospitals in Đà Nẵng, now Việt Nam’s biggest outbreak, raising the nation’s active cases to 140.

With the 45 new cases, the largest number of domestic infections reported in one day in Việt Nam since the first cases were detected in the country in February, as well as 37 cases on Friday evening, the nation now has 546 COVID-19 patients. Of these, 369 have recovered.

A 70-year-old COVID-19 patient with multiple comorbidities died on Friday, the first fatality ever recorded in Việt Nam so far.

According to Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC), the short-term trend of the VN-Index is still unpredictable as investors are quite sensitive to the COVID-19 movements.

TCSC recommended investors maintain a safe rate of stocks in portfolios at 30-40 per cent for medium and long-term goals.

The large-cap VN30-Index, tracking the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, dropped 0.71 per cent to close Friday at 740.73 points.

In the VN30 basket, notable decliners were insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), Vietinbank (CTG), Vingroup (VIC), Techcombank (TCB), Vinamilk (VNM), Sabeco (SAB), PVPower (POW), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Military Bank (MBB) and FPT Corporation (FPT).

On a sector basis, 15 out of 25 sectors on the stock market decreased, including food and beverage, banking, insurance, securities, healthcare, information and technology, rubber production, seafood processing, construction and construction materials.

Real estate, agriculture, and logistics were among the losers.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ129.55 billion on the HOSE. They were net buyers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ4.54 billion

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slumped 0.55 per cent to end at 107.51 points.

It had risen 1.17 per cent to end Thursday at 108.10 points.

Nearly 37 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ375 billion. — VNS