VPBank's employees talking to customers in its office. The bank shares rose 2.3 per cent on Friday. Photo courtesy of VPBank

HÀ NỘI — The market finished higher in the last trading session of the week as large-cap stocks gained points, while foreign investors net sold large values on both exchanges. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index climbed 0.35 per cent to 1,266.36 points. However the market breadth was negative as 190 stocks rose while 220 stocks fell.

During the session, local investors poured over VNĐ22.03 trillion into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 731 million shares. 

The gains in pillar stocks were the main driving force for the market. The VN30-Index rose 0.72 per cent to close Friday’s trade at 1,380.02 points. 

Twenty-two of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket inched higher on Friday while eight stocks declined. 

The move was contrary to analysts’ expectations that the market benchmark might fall back to the support zone of 1,250 points in the last session.

“Rising downward pressure at the end of the session when the VN-Index approaches the resistance territory of around 1,275 points might cause it to fall back to the support zone of around 1,250 points in the last trading session of the week,” Bảo Việt Securities wrote in a daily report to investors. 

The firm also kept their stance that the market will move sideways to create a new base above the level of 1,200 - 1,220 points in the near future.

Bank stocks still dominated the market’s rally as four out of top five stocks influencing the trend were from this sector. These stocks were VPBank (VPB), Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SSB), Techcombank (TCB) and Vietinbank (CTG) with SSB hitting the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent, while three other stocks all jumped more than 1 per cent. 

But the biggest gainer on Friday was Masan Group (MSN) from the material sector.

The index pared some gains as selling pressure persisted in a few big stocks. Vingroup JSC (VIC) posted the biggest loss, down 0.95 per cent. It was followed by PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk, VNM), dropped 1.75 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index edged 2.68 per cent higher to 294.82 points. The index also rallied on gains in large-cap stocks. The HNX30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HNX, increased 2.68 per cent to 440.03 points. 

During the session, over 161.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ3.5 trillion. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors kept fleeing the market as they net sold a huge amount of over VNĐ1.65 trillion on both exchanges. Of which, they net sold a value VNĐ1.61 trillion on HoSE and a value of VNĐ41.18 billion on HNX. VNS