Shares end four-day streak to close lower

An investor at the SSI stock trading floor. The HNX-Index lost 0.32 per cent to close yesterday at 426.89 points. — VNS Doan Tung

VN-Index snapped a four-session winning streak on Friday after profit-taking pressure hit market heavyweights.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) lost 0.34 per cent, to finish the trading day at 1,501.71 points.

The index had increased 0.09 per cent, to finish Thursday at 1,506.79 points.

The market breadth was neutral as 226 stocks declined while 211 rose and 58 ended flat.

Nearly 636.3 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth VND21.6 trillion (US$952.3 million).

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, lost 0.20 per cent to finish at 1,545.92 points.

Of the VN30 basket, 12 stocks increased while 16 decreased.

In the VN-30 basket, Vincom Retail (VRE) was the biggest loser as it dropped nearly 4 per cent, Vingroup (VIC) was in second place with a decrease of more than 2 per cent. The stocks with a 1-per cent drop were Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Vietcombank (VCB), PVPower (POW), Bank for Investment and Development (BID) and HDBank (HDB).

On the other side, Tien Phong Bank (TPB) was the strongest gainer as it rose 4 per cent. Sabeco (SAB), Sacombank (STB), Phu Nhuan Jewellery (PNJ) and The Viet Nam Rubber Group (GVR) all surpassed 1 per cent.

Coal stocks made a strong breakthrough and supported the market, with Vinacomin - Ha Tu Coal JSC (THT), Vinacomin - Vang Danh Coal JSC (TVD), Vinacomin - Nui Beo Coal JSC (NBC), Vinacomin - DeoNai Coal JSC (TDN), Vinacomin - Coc Sau Coal JSC (TC6) and Vinacomin - Mong Duong Coal JSC (MDC) were all hitting the ceiling prices. Cao Son Coal JSC (CST) was up 9 per cent, Vinacomin - Northern Coal Trading Joint Stock Company (TMB) up 9.4 per cent and Vinacomin - Ha Lam Coal JSC (HLC) up 9 per cent.

Fifteen out of 25 sector indices on the market lost ground, including securities, oil and gas, food and beverage and construction materials.

On the other side, gainers included insurance, real estate, wholesale, IT, retail, healthcare, agriculture, rubber production, seafood production, construction and logistics.

Meanwhile, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index lost 0.32 per cent to close Friday at 426.89 points.

The northern market index had gained 0.95 per cent to close Thursday at 428.24 points.

During the session, more than 70.9 million shares were traded on HNX, worth VND2 trillion. — VNS