HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese stock market closed on a negative note on Friday, with the VN-Index experiencing a significant decline of nearly 36 points, settling at 1,731.19. 

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the breadth leaned heavily in negative territory, with 236 stocks falling, nearly 2.5 times the number that recorded gains. This trend reflects widespread caution among investors and a tendency to take profits.

However, liquidity on the southern bourse increased to nearly VNĐ42.1 trillion (US$1.6 billion) from over VNĐ40 trillion of the previous session. 

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, dropped 45.13 points, or 2.23 per cent, to 1,977.14 points. 

In the VN30 group, the downward trend was clear, with up to 26 stocks declining and only three increasing. 

The most considerable pressure on the index came from the Vin-stock group and various securities and banking stocks.

Vinhomes (VHM) faced a sharp drop of 4.9 per cent. Similarly, Vingroup (VIC) and Vincom Retail (VRE) also experienced significant corrections, losing 4.27 per cent and 5.53 per cent, respectively.

The banking sector contributed to the index's decline as well, with notable losses from VPBank (VPB) down 3.77 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) down 2.97 per cent, LPB down 3.5 per cent, and BIDV (BID) down 1.76 per cent.

The securities sector also saw several stocks under pressure, including VIX Securities (VIX) down 2.9 per cent, SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) down 1.33 per cent, Vietcap Securities (VCI) down 1.64 per cent, Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM) down 1.12 per cent and MB Securities (MBS) down 1.78 per cent.

Notably, Masan Group (MSN) was the centre of attention during Friday's trading session. After hitting a ceiling price, the stock turned around to decrease by 0.23 per cent. 

This shift followed a period of strong gains attributed to news of a large block trade expected to be executed by SK Invest Vina I Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of South Korea's SK Group.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also fell 0.97 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 276.11 points. 

During the session, over 104 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ2.7 trillion. 

Foreign investors also reversed their buying trend, selling off a net value of nearly VNĐ2 trillion on HoSE and VNĐ144.58 billion on HNX.  — BIZHUB/VNS