Shares ended lower on both national stock exchanges on Friday, as selling pressure intensified in afternoon trading.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange dropped 0.28 per cent to close Friday at 974.08 points, totalling a four-day loss of 1 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was down 0.05 per cent to end at 100.92 points.

Nearly 181.5 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges on Friday, worth VND5.8 trillion (US$248.5 million).

The large-cap VN30-Index lost 0.02 per cent to end at 885.95 points, with 12 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation declining while 11 gaining.

With cautious psychology seen throughout the market, trading remained sluggish during the session.

Insurance, real estate, securities, banking, energy, agriculture, plastic and chemical production, construction materials, logistics and healthcare were the worst-performing industries.

Meanwhile, retail, wholesale, seafood production, information and technology and seafood processing supported the stock market.

Industrial zone real estate faced strong profit taking and dropped sharply, including Sonadezi Corporation (SNZ) (-2.9 per cent), Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS) (-1.4 per cent), Industrial Urban Development JSC No 2 (D2D) (-3.4 per cent), Viet Nam Rubber Industrial Zone and Urban Development JSC (VRG) (-7,6 per cent) and Phuoc Hoa Rubber Joint Stock Company (PHR) (-5,3 per cent).

According to BIDV Securities Company (BSC), the market will welcome the third quarter business results in the second half of September, but this is not yet a breakthrough when negative information from the global market is still ahead.

As the growth of world economy slows, the trade war remains a matter of focus and has a strong impact on the sentiment of the international market.

“The cycle of ‘negotiation - no deal - US increases tax - China retaliates’ repeats itself and erodes hopes of a possible deal,” BSC said in its report.

The positive effect from the Fed lowering the interest rate by 0.25 per cent for the first time in 10 years at the end of July quickly faded as the US announced tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods beginning September 1. China responded by adding 5-10 per cent tax to $75 billion worth of goods, leading to the decision of an additional 5 per cent tax on $300 billion of Chinese goods.

BSC said the VN-Index price fluctuation in September continued to range from 965 points to 1,015 points.

In September, BSC proposed two scenarios. In the positive case, the VN-Index will remain above 965 points at correction span, with the central price zone of 980 points. Price movements welcomed the third quarter business results, improved liquidity in some sectors and stocks with good growth prospects.

In the negative case, VN-Index may drop below 950 points if there is adverse information from the world and foreign investors net sell. — VNS