Worries over global economic growth and tensions pushed Viet Nam’s benchmark VN-Index down for a second day.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) lost 0.53 per cent to close Friday at 958.36 points.

The southern market index declined by total 1.36 per cent in the last two sessions.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up 0.17 per cent to end at 108.10 points.

The northern market index slipped 1.35 per cent on Thursday.

The VN-Index lost total 1.2 per cent this week and the HNX Index was down total 1.51 per cent.

Nearly 191 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND4.48 trillion (US$199 million).

The market breadth was negative on Friday with 235 declining stocks against 175 gaining ones.

Large-cap stocks were struck by heavy selling, which sent the blue-chip VN30 Index down 0.62 per cent to 931.69 points at the end of the day.

In the VN30 basket, 21 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation declined while only six advanced.

Decliners among the top 30 stocks included budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), property developer Novaland (NVL), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG) and petrol firm Petrolimex (PLX).

Those declining stocks lost between 0.2 per cent and 3.3 per cent.

Across the two exchanges, 12 of the 20 sector indices ended Friday in the negative territory such as financial-banking, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, retail, and rubber and plastic production.

On the opposite side, food and beverage, agriculture and information and technology were among seven industries that saw prices up.

Friday was also the day that HOSE restructured the free-float rates for listed companies in the VN30 basket.

The biggest Vietnamese exchange-traded fund VFMVN30, which trades stocks on the reference of large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket, also shook up its portfolio and put strong pressure on the stock market.

But according to securities firms, the recent downgrade of the stock market was mostly because of the volatility on the global markets, which have been badly affected by worries about the slowdown of the world’s economy led by the trade tension between China and the US.

Meanwhile, investor sentiment was kept on edge on expectations that the US central bank Fed would raise interest rates in its meeting later on, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities JSC (SHS) said in a note.

Foreign investors on Friday were net sellers, posting VND267.4 billion in net sell value, compared to their net buy value of VND75.6 billion made on Thursday.

“What is hoped to lift the market sentiment now is third-quarter corporate earnings reports. But even earnings reports are differentiated from sector to sector and from company to company, so the market’s growth could be unstable,” SHS said. — VNS