Construction stocks help VN-Index close in green

The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), gained 1.02 points, or 0.1%, to 1,059.31 on Friday thanks to the rally of construction stocks.

The major bourse saw 173 tickers gaining, 221 losing and 77 going flat, with more than 465 million shares changing hands for nearly VND7.7 trillion ($323.26 million), down 8.9% from the previous session.

The VN30 index, which tracks the performance of 30 largest cap stocks, went down 1.54 points to 1,053.72, with 18 losers and nine gainers. Among those increasing were BVH of Bao Viet Group, NLV of property developer Novaland, POW of PV Power, and VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes.

The highlight of the market came from the performance of tickers of construction companies. Most stocks in this group closed above their reference levels like KSB of Binh Duong Mineral and Construction JSC, VGC of Vinaconex, HHV of Deo Ca Traffic Infrastructure Investment JSC, FCN of Fecon Corp, and LCG of Lizen Corp. Green also covered stocks in the energy industry.

Meanwhile, the banking, real estate, securities and steel codes failed to maintain their gaining momentum as in the previous session.

Foreign investors remained net sellers to the tune of about VND12 billion ($503,800) on the HoSE. They mainly net sold STB of Sacombank, DXG of Dat Xanh Group, HPG of steel giant Hoa Phat, CTG of Vietinbank, and SHB of Saigon-Hanoi Bank.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse dropped 0.89 points to 209.95, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market went down 0.72 points to 78.94.