Shares concluded the week on a negative note as investors remained cautious on the market outlook amid low volatility and constant net selling by foreign traders.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 2.23 per cent, or 22 points, to end at 963.90 points. It had lost 0.31 per cent on Thursday.

The minor HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange lost 2.21 per cent to close at 114.49 points, extending its loss of 0.88 per cent on Thursday.

More than 194 million shares were traded across the two local exchanges, worth VND5.4 trillion (US$239 million).

The market breadth was negative with 326 declining stocks against 132 gainers.

Foreign investors on Friday sold net VND521.51 billion on the HOSE, focusing on real estate developer Vingroup (VIC) (VND209.7 billion), transportation and warehousing company Viet Nam Sun Corporation (VNS) (VND103.4 billion) and Vincom Retail (VRE) (VND66.2 billion). They also sold net VND14.7 billion on the HNX.

Of the 20 industries on the stock market, securities, energy and retail industry were the three worst hit by investors’ strong selling pressure, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The three indices lost respectively 2.9 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 9.3 per cent.

Among securities firms, the three biggest – VNDirect Securities (VND), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM) – sunk 3.1 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 6.3 per cent.

Dropping three days in a row, oil prices hit the lowest level in two weeks. Therefore, energy stocks also traded in negative territory.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), world oil prices slumped on Thursday to a two-week low after Russia signaled the possibility of easing output limits.

In New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell by 1.6 per cent or US$1.13 per barrel to settle at US$70.71 per barrel – the lowest since May 11, 2018.

Curbing supply with OPEC since 2017, Russia on Thursday implied that the country can raise its crude output. Also, US inventories expanded by 5.8 million barrels in the week ending May 18, compared to the analysts’ forecasted drop of 1.6 million barrels.

BVSC said in its daily report that these two pieces of news put major pressure on oil prices recently.

Amid the slide of oil, oil-gas stocks on Friday such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) all hit the floor prices.

Due to weak bottom-fishing cash flows amid heavy selling pressure on large-cap stocks, the market is likely to stay on a downtrend in the short term, BVSC added.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) was down 1.38 per cent to 53.13 points, extending its decline of 0.36 per cent in the previous session. — VNS