Customers at Vietinbank’s office in northern Sơn La Province. Shares of Vietinbank (CTG) lost 1.05 per cent on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares ended the last trading session of the week on a negative note after foreign investors extended their net selling streak, further damping investor sentiment.

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock exchange (HoSE) lost 0.50 per cent to end the Friday session at 850.74 points.

It had gained 0.96 per cent to end Thursday at 855.05 points.

More than 304.7 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ5.2 trillion (US$223.5 million).

Market breadth was negative with 239 decliners and 145 gainers.

Foreign traders continued their selling. On the HoSE, foreign investors net sold VNĐ208 billion on Friday, up 61 per cent compared to the net selling value in the previous session. They have been net sellers for six consecutive sessions on HoSE with a total value of up to VNĐ832 billion.

According to BIDV Securities Company, local investors should keep a close watch on the net selling activities of foreign investors.

If this net selling trend continues with high volume while the global market experiences negative movements, the market will face significant pressure in the short run, it said.

Financial stocks were the biggest losers on Friday. Big names such as Vietcombank (VBC), Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID), Techcombank (TCB), VPBank (VPB) and SSI Securities (SSI) all fell.

Some bucked the trend such as Military Bank (MBB), Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ), Sabeco (SAB), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vinamilk (VNM) but their growth was modest and failed to rescue the market.

The blue-chip index VN30, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, dropped 0.39 per cent to end Friday at 791.98 points.

Sixteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the large-cap basket decreased while nine increased.

On a sector basis, 21 out of 25 sector indexes lost ground on Friday, including real estate, insurance, securities, banking, agriculture, information and technology, food and beverage, logistics, rubber production, healthcare and seafood production.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.54 per cent to end Friday session at 116.23 points.

The index had gained 0.66 per cent to end Thursday's session at 116.87 points.

More than 157.4 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ3.1 trillion.

During the morning session, more than 105.5 million shares of Vietnam Construction And Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (VCG) were traded via put-through method with trading value totaling VNĐ2.5 trillion.

On the HNX, VCG hit the ceiling price to VNĐ29,000 per share. — VNS