Rallies end as profit-taking weighs on large-caps

System check at a facility of PetroVietnam Gas (HoSE: GAS) in Ca Mau Province. Shares of the gas supplier dropped 1.2 per cent on Friday. - VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged down 0.6 per cent to end Friday at 871.21 points, ending a five-day rally of 4.04 per cent.

Large-cap stocks led the market downturn as the tracker VN30-Index lost nearly 1 per cent to close at 809.02 points.

Twenty-four of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity declined while six advanced.

Among the losers were Techcombank (TCB), Sacombank (STB), HDBank (HBD), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinhomes (VHM), steel producer Hoa Phat (HPG), Novaland (NVL), and retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and tech group FPT (FPT).

The VN30 futures, which mature on July 16, dropped 1.41 per cent to 803.7 points on Friday.

Other futures, which mature in August, September and December 2020, lost between 1.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent.

On a sector basis, the banking, retail, mining and energy, and information and technology indices fell between 0.8 per cent and 1.0 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

On the opposite side, the brokerage, construction, seafood, and transportation and logistics sectors rose slightly.

The mid-cap tracker VNMID-Index inched up 0.17 per cent while the mid-cap tracker VNSML-Index slid 0.22 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slipped 0.43 per cent to end Friday at 115.66 points.

The northern market index had gained a total of 4.13 per cent in the previous four trading days.

More than 327.8 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND5.30 trillion (US$228 million).

Foreign investors net-sold total VND160 billion worth of shares on Friday, down 1.7 per cent daily.

“The market turned cautious on Friday but selling was not too strong and a number of investors were willing to buy stocks at low price levels, thus the market decline was limited,” Thanh Cong Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

The VN-Index would expand in the coming days but there would be struggles at 875-885 points, the brokerage firm forecast.

“If the VN-Index beats 885 points, it would head to the peak of 900 points made in June,” TCSC said, adding stocks would diverge based on second-quarter earnings expectations.