Vietnam's benchmark VN-Index closed Friday at 1,240, losing less than 1 point, but recorded weak liquidity and the largest net selling by foreign investors since the beginning of April.
VN-Index remained green most of the morning session owing to the excitement of investors following the midweek series of advances.
Selling pressure dominated the market in early afternoon, forcing the index to revert to nearly 1,230 points, down 10 points from the reference milestone.
However, the outperformance of real estate stocks in the last minutes helped to reduce the dropping margin, but it was insufficient to assist the index to return to the green.
Seventeen stocks in the VN30 basket, which tracks the price of leading stocks in terms of market cap and liquidity on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), were in the red, led by SAB (Sacombank) with a margin of 3.9%. Meanwhile, PNJ (Phu Nhuan Jewelry) and GVR (Vietnam Rubber Group) were the standouts among the top ten gainers.
VN30-Index closed the session at 1,282.51, down 1.04 points. Liquidity reached VND4,242 billion ($183 million), accounting for 34% of HoSE liquidity.
Small and medium stocks witnessed a slight rebound with VNSmallCap and VNMidcap up 0.86% and 0.69% respectively.
VN-Index closed Friday at 1,240.71, slightly down 0.93 points, with 209 gaining (12 stocks hit the price ceiling) and 223 losing. HNX-Index fell by 1 point (0.32%) to 307.02, while UpCoM-Index dropped by 0.47 points (0.5%) to 94.11.
On the three exchanges, 467 stocks were gainers (26 stocks hit the price ceiling) and 523 losers. Total transaction value fell by 3% to VND12,460 billion ($573.8 million), marking the sixth consecutive bearish session.
Despite the split in most sectors, the green coverage dominated in several groups like construction, real estate, banking, and securities.
Foreign investors remained net buyers to the tone of more than VND420 billion ($18.1 million) on the HoSE, the highest since the beginning of April. The selling force focused on HPG (Hoa Phat Group), SSI (SSI Securities), and VIC (Vingroup).
On Friday, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi was assigned to directly run the State Securities Commission (SSC), the stock market regulator, replacing chairman Tran Van Dung who had been removed from all positions in the Party on Wednesday.
The disciplinary action took place in the context that the Ministry of Public Security was investigating a series of violations in securities trading and intentionally disclosing work secrets that occurred at the SSC.