The index was mostly in the red throughout the session with several dips to the 1,150 range before climbing up in the last hour of trading and closing with a 3.04-point gain.

Trading volume on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 11 percent to VND14.87 trillion ($640.95 million). The bourse saw 216 stocks gain and 209 lose.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks on the HoSE, saw 14 stocks gain, led by HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group with a 3.3 percent increase.

The largest steel producer in the country announced Friday it would start producing containers to meet rising global trade demand with plans to make 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units a year.

HPG's price is now at an all-time high of VND45,600. Since the VN-Index plunged in March last year due to Covid-19 impacts, HPG has been among the best performers on the market with an increase of 337 percent.

BID of state-owned lender BIDV was the second-highest gainer this session, up 1.5 percent.

Like other state-owned banking stocks, BID has been struggling to return to this year’s peak in January. The ticker needs another 12-percent gain to recover to the VND48,900 price mark it reached on January 7.

Most private banking tickers, however, have been rising fast. As the third strongest gainer this session, MBB of Military Bank rose 1.3 percent to a new peak of VND27,650.

Rounding off the top five gainers were PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development Jsc, up 1.3 percent, and PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry, up 1.1 percent.

Friday's session concluded a week of fluctuations for the VN-Index as it recovered from a plunge of nearly 170 points in January even as it approached the psychological threshold of 1,200 points.

The index was in the green for four out five sessions this week, but a fall of nearly 16 points Wednesday caused the index to end the week with a 0.56 percent drop.

Foreign investors were net sellers throughout the week. They net sold VND473 billion Friday, with strongest pressures on VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail.