Vietnamese shares settled lower on Friday, dragged by banking and securities stocks.
On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index declined 0.05 per cent to end Friday at 1,287.98 points.
The index had declined 0.84 per cent to end Thursday at 1,288.62 points.
Market breadth was negative with 149 gainers and 290 losers, while 68 shares ended flat.
Liquidity stayed low with more than 473.8 million shares traded on the southern bourse, worth VND12.9 trillion (US$556.3 million).
The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, gained 0.14 per cent to end at 1,327.40 points. Out of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket, ten posted gains while 17 decreased.
Banking stocks continued to adjust, with losers including Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietnam International Commercial JS Bank (VIB) and Saigon-Hanoi Commercial JS Bank (SHB), and HDBank (HDB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID).
There were still some gainers in the group that helped narrow the declines of the market, such as Techcombank (TCB), Military Bank (MBB), Sacombank (STB) and VPBank (VPB).
In the large-cap group, losers included Khang Dien House (KDH), Masan Group (MSN), Phat Dat Real Estate (PDR), Novaland (NVL), Vinamilk (VNM), Vietjet (VJC), and two stocks of the Vin family – Vingroup (VIC) and Vinhomes (VHM).
Securities stocks decreased towards the end of the session. VN-Index's loss was significantly broadened as securities stocks declined strongly, such as VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), Viet Capital Incorporation (VCI), Agribank Securities Corporation (AGR) and APG Securities Joint Stock Company (APG).
According to the macro-economic and market report, BIDV Securities Co (BSC) gave two scenarios for the stock market in June. In the first scenario, BSC forecasts that the VN-Index will continue its recovery after a series of downtrends.
The motivation comes from the Government's determination to start the VND40 trillion support package, with the disease situation in China showing signs of improvement and positive commodity price movements.
“The market will differentiate when the second-quarter business results are announced,” the company said.
In the second scenario, raw material prices continue to increase, putting pressure on inflation while investors' negative and cautious sentiment returns. The Fed’s rate hikes alongside new sanctions from the US and the West on Russia would worsen market sentiment. VN-Index is forecasted to fluctuate in the range of 1,240-1,250 points.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased 0.41 per cent to end Friday at 310.48 points.
The index had decreased 1.14 per cent to end Thursday at 311.77 points.
Liquidity was lower than the previous session with 65.2 million shares worth nearly VND1.5 trillion being traded on the northern market. — VNS