Shares unexpectedly dropped in the final minutes of trading on Friday as investors looked to earn profits from recent rallies.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange lost 0.09 per cent to close at 974.34 points.

The VN-Index had increased by 1.10 per cent in the previous two trading days.

More than 192.3 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VND6.4 trillion (US$274 million).

According to BIDV Securities Company (BSC), liquidity had a downward signal, showing that investors still had a cautious attitude waiting for the next move from the US after the Central Bank of China allowed the RMB to continuously depreciate against the US dollar.

Insurance, real estate, energy, banking, construction and agriculture pulled the market down.

The sector indices were down between 0.05 per cent and 1.4 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

At the end of the session, some large-cap stocks dropped and put great pressure on the general market, making the market indices reverse and decline. Vingroup (VIC) dropped by 1.5 per cent to VND120,200 per share. Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) fell 2.4 per cent to VND78,000 per share. Cotec Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD) lost 1.6 per cent to VND105,300 per share. Sabeco (SAB) slumped 1.5 per cent to VND275,700 per share.

On the other side, rally trend maintained well on many blue-chips like Vinamilk (VNM), Vietjet Air (VJC), HDBank (HDB), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG) and Novaland (NVL). MWG gained strongly by 2.6 per cent to VND115,900 per share. HDB increased 5.2 per cent to VND26,300 per share.

Large-cap stocks performed well as the VN30-Index rose 0.32 per cent to 878.62 points.

Fourteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity added values while 12 declined.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slid 0.11 per cent to end at 102.79 points.

The northern market index had gained total 1 per cent in the previous two days.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), the market is forecast to move sideways next week in the range 965-983 points. VN-Index may drop to support zone 965-970 points before rebounding.

Foreign investors have reduced their net selling activities in recent sessions. Foreign investors’ selling pressures will possibly decrease. Capital flows will continuously rotate among stock sectors with macroeconomic benefits, such as industrial zone real estate, seaport, logistic, information technology, and several real estate stocks, BVSC said.

Stock exposure should be maintained at 30-40 per cent of the portfolio. Investors with high stock proportion may take advantage of market corrections to lower stock exposure. Investors should only buy at market decline at each stock’s specific support zone, it said. — VNS