Market corrects on pillar stocks
Foreign investors were still net sellers on the Vietnamese stock market.
Losses in large-cap stocks weighed on the domestic market, causing benchmark indices on the two main exchanges to correct slightly on the last trading day of the week.
The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) declined 6.09 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 1,284.09 points. This snapped the index's four-day gaining streak.
The index struggled at the resistance level of 1,300 points. In a negative scenario, the market is likely to correct and move back to the accumulation area of 1,150 - 1,250 points or 1,300 points, according to Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS).
On the southern bourse, 201 ticker symbols were traded lower while 111 inched up. Liquidity also fell from the previous session, down 10.8 per cent to VNĐ23.2 trillion (US$935.7 million).
The index's reversal was driven by losses in the large-cap stocks, especially in the banking, manufacturing and real estate industries.
The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, dropped 6.3 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 1,296.9 points. In the VN30 basket, 22 stocks ticked down, seven increased and one stayed unchanged.
Data compiled by a financial website vietstock.vn showed that Vietcombank (VCB) led the market's downturn. The lender's shares tumbled 0.84 per cent.
It was followed by BIDV (BID), Masan Group (MSN), Vinhomes (VHM), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Techcombank (TCB), down 0.94-2.37 per cent.
Securities stocks also performed poorly today, of which SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) fell 1.66 per cent, SHS dipped 2.43 per cent, VIX Securities Corporation (VIX) plunged 2.14 per cent and VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND) decreased 1.08 per cent.
The system of VNDirect is expected to be operating again on April 1 after a week of disruption due to a data breach, according to the company's statement on Friday morning.
The securities firm is also drafting new policies to address and compensate for the inconveniences encountered by customers during the trading downtime.
On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index declined 1.34 points, 0.55 per cent, to 242.58 points. Nearly VNĐ1.8 trillion worth of shares were traded on the northern bourse on Friday, equivalent to over 80.6 million shares.
Foreign investors were still net sellers on the Vietnamese stock market. Particularly, they net sold VNĐ794.1 billion on HoSE but net bought a value of VNĐ54.66 billion on HNX. — VNS
