The market opened Friday's trading session with a strong rally but the state of dispute continued and prevented the gaining momentum from expanding.
The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.36 per cent to close at 1,129.38 points. It had risen 0.61 per cent to close at 1,125.30 points.
More than 906.6 million shares worth VND18 trillion (US$765 million) were traded on the southern bourse.
Market breadth was neutral, with 235 gainers and 200 losers.
The HoSE's large-cap tracker VN30-Index also edged higher, closing at 1,126.76 points, up 0.82 per cent. Nineteen of the 15 largest stocks rose, while 15 stocks lost points.
Gainers in the VN-30 basket were Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Vinamilk (VNM).
“Despite a favourable start with a good gain at the beginning of the session, the market could not surpass the old peak of 1,125-1,130 points, due to the lack of demand to push prices at banks and large-cap groups,” said Viet Dragon Securities Co.
“The indexes closed with an indecisive candlestick pattern and the liquidity did not increase significantly compared to yesterday, temporarily showing the cautious sentiment of cash flow at the resistance zone.
“Therefore, it is likely that the market will continue to struggle and explore supply and demand at the beginning of the next session, before having more specific signals. With this scenario, investors need to slow down to assess the supply and demand status and can continue to hold stocks with good accumulation moves.
“However, it is still necessary to consider taking profits at stocks that have increased rapidly to the resistance zone or are under selling pressure from the resistance zone,” it said.
Banking stocks supported the market with gainers such as Sacombank (STB), Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), VPBank (VPB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).
However, some banks still suffered selling pressure such as Vietcombank (VCB), HDBank (HDB) and Vietinbank (CTG).
Energy stocks, including PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Service Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS), suffered selling pressure and weighed on the indices.
The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange edged down 0.16 per cent to end at 231.54 points.
More than 122 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND2 trillion. — VNS