Vietnamese shares finished the last trading session of the week on a mixed note with good growth in the energy sector, but fears of a market correction still causing skittishness.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.36 per cent to close at 960.78 points. It had fallen a total of 3.3 per cent in the previous three sessions.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange declined for a fourth straight day, losing 0.83 per cent to end at 106.17 points. The northern market index dropped a total of 5.2 per cent after four sessions.

The VN Index and the HNX Index finished the week 2.3 per cent and 5.2 per cent lower than the previous week’s end.

More than 175 million shares were traded on the two exchanges worth VND4.6 trillion (US$204.4 million), down 13.3 per cent in volume and 4.9 per cent in value compared to Thursday.

Market trading condition was slightly positive with 229 gaining stocks, 208 losing stocks and 139 others that ended flat.

Large-cap stocks performed well to pull the VN30 Index up 0.05 per cent to 947.78 points, with only nine of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the basket advancing.

Gainers included brewer Sabeco (SAB), budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), Coteccons Construction Corp (CTD), HCM City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp (REE).

Those gainers rose between 0.2 per cent and 5.8 per cent.

Seven of the total 20 industries saw share prices up, including energy, healthcare and pharmacy and agriculture.

Energy stocks continued to benefit from the rise in crude prices. Brent crude was up 1.2 per cent to trade at $78.78 a barrel.

Gainers in the energy sector included PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Well Drilling and Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Mud Drilling (PVC).

Financial-banking and rubber were the sectors that kept investor sentiment low.

The worst performing bank stocks were VPBank (VPB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), which dropped 2.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent.

Declining securities stocks included HCM City Securities (HCM), Vietinbank Securities (CTS), MB Securities (MBS) and Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities (SHS).

Foreign investors ended the session as net sellers, posting VND265 billion worth of net selling. They were net buyers in the two previous sessions with a total of VND2.5 trillion worth of net buying.

Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC) said in its report that Friday’s session showed some positive signs after the previous three declining sessions in a row.

However, capital had not flown back into the market as trading liquidity continued to fall, VDSC said, adding that there were still “risks of correction in the mid-short term”. — VNS