Mobile World Investment's shop in Hà Nội. MWG rose 2 per cent yesterday. VNS Mai Hương

HÀ NỘI — Shares lost for two days in a row, ending the week in the red, while retail shares bucked the trend thanks to growth of Mobile World Investment Group.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index dropped 2 per cent to close Friday at 1,347.14 points. The southern market’s index decreased by more than 5 per cent this week.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange fell 2.93 per cent to end the day at 306.73 points, expanding the weekly loss to 6.6 per cent.

Liquidity improved with 886.4 million shares worth total VNĐ28.5 trillion (US$1.23 billion) traded on the two markets, up 28 per cent in volume and 22 per cent in value compared to Thursday’s figures.

Twenty-four out of 25 sectors tracked by vietstock.vn lost on Friday, of which plastic and chemical firms were the biggest losers with a negative growth of 4.53 per cent, followed by mining, agro-forestry-fishery, securities, finance and construction materials with a drop of more than 3 per cent each.

Only the retail sector was up 1.85 per cent thanks to a growth rate of 2 per cent of Mobile World Investment Group (MWG). MWG was also the only one in the VN30 basket, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, gaining value while the other 28 shares slumped. One was at a standstill.

The selling force focused on blue chips.

Property developer Novaland Investment (NVL) lost 6.6 per cent, topping the stocks influencing the VN-Index most on Friday. Steep declines of Vinhomes (VHM), Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), lender BIDV (BID) and Masan Group (MSN) with losses of 1-3.5 per cent also weighed on the market.

According to Yuanta Securities Vietnam (YSVN), the market may continue to move sideways with narrow fluctuations in the next sessions and VN-Index fluctuates around the threshold of 1,375 points.

“The market showed signs of entering an accumulation phase and the cash flow will still seek large-cap stocks. In addition, the short-term sentiment indicator dropped sharply into the over-contemplative zone, showing that the market is likely to have technical improvements,” YSVN’s analysts said in a report.

Foreign traders were net buyers on the two markets, however, picking up shares worth VNĐ793 billion. — VNS