202 stocks gained and 148 lost on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which VN-Index is based. Order-matched transactions were VND2.25 trillion ($96.96 million), a relatively cautious session compared to last month’s average liquidity of VND2.8 trillion ($120.65 million).

Gains were driven by Vietnam’s blue chips, with VN30-Index for Vietnam’s 30 biggest market cap stocks surging 0.89 percent. On VN30, 23 tickets gained, in which five gained above 2 percent, while 5 closed in red.

CTD of construction giant Coteccons led gains with 2.9 percent, ending four straight sessions of losses, followed by CTG of VietinBank, one of Vietnam’s three largest state owned lenders by assets, which rose 2 percent.

The other two major state-owned lenders, BID of BIDV, and VCB of Vietcombank, added 1.6 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.

Other big gainers included VPB of private mid-sized lender VPBank, up 2.8 percent, MWG of electronics retail heavyweight Mobile World, 2.6 percent, and HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, 2.1 percent.

Shares of all other mid-sized lenders gained this session, save for EIB of Eximbank which fell 0.6 percent.

VIC shares of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s highest market cap stock, retained its opening price, while shares of its subsidiaries, VRE of retail group Vincom Retail, and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, rose 1 and 0.1 percent respectively.

ROS shares of real estate developer FLC Faros continued to be the biggest losing stock on the market, having hit its floor price for the fifth consecutive session, down 6.9 percent.

It was followed by NVL of real estate developer Novaland, which shed 3.4 percent, and SAB of Vietnam’s biggest brewer Sabeco, down 1.8 percent.

Meanwhile, HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s second main bourse for small and mid-cap stocks, rose 0.46 percent, while UPCoM-Index for Unlisted Public Companies added 0.17 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND31 billion ($1.33 million) on all three bourses, with selling pressure mostly on VIC of Vingroup and HDB of private lender HDBank.

Benchmark VN-Index ended 2019 at 960.99 points, up 7.67 percent for the year, while HNX-Index shed 1.65 percent.