An investor watches stock indices on the board at the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange in HCM City. VNA/VNS Photo Hứa Chung

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares trimmed losses in late trade on Friday as strong buying force returned to the market, helping revive investor appetite after a sell-off earlier the day.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.70 per cent to close Friday at 1,241.81 points.

The southern market index had declined 0.47 per cent to finish Thursday at 1,250.57 points.

The market breadth was negative as 307 stocks declined while 118 rose and 41 stocks ended flat.

The market’s liquidity was high with nearly 783 million shares traded on the southern market, worth VNĐ22.4 trillion (US$971 million).

“The VN-Index corrected slightly after approaching the historic peak of 1,260-1,280 points,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Market liquidity decreased slightly along with the continued net selling trend of foreign investors on both exchanges had caused a market correction to the threshold of 1,250 points.

“Cash flow weakened compared to the previous session. The VN-Index may consolidate in the short term around 1,250 points before retesting the 1,260-1280 level in the mid-term,” said the company.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, lost 0.29 per cent to 1,340.73 points.

Of the VN30 basket, seven stocks increased while 22 decreased.

Hoàng Huy Investment Financial Services JSC (TCH) and Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) were the two biggest losers in the group with a drop of over 3 per cent each. Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), Thành Thành Công – Biên Hòa JSC (SBT), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietjet (VJC) dropped by more than 2 per cent.

Thanks to the return of buying force in the afternoon trade, some large-caps managed to increase. HDBank (HDB) continued to maintain its uptrend, rising 4 per cent, Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) gained more than 3 per cent. Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Vietinbank (CTG) rose over 2 per cent.

Banking stocks differentiated significantly in the last session of the week. Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest loser in the industry. Sacombank (STB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Ocean Bank (OCB) fell more than 1 per cent. On the opposite side, HDBank (HDB), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) and Liên Việt Post Bank (LPB) also rebounded 3 per cent.

Oil and gas stocks performed poorly. Bình Sơn Refinery (BSR) dropped the most with more than 5 per cent loss, PV Oil (OIL) and PV Drilling (PVD) declined over 3 per cent. Other losers were PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

Meanwhile, on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index declined 0.44 per cent to close Friday at 279.86 points.

The northern market index had risen 0.06 per cent to close Thursday at 281.09 points.

During the session, over 122.3 million shares were traded on HNX, worth VNĐ2.4 trillion. — VNS