The index remained in the red in the morning but surged in the early afternoon to close with a 21-point gain, the biggest in the past three sessions.

The rise came after a 40-point fall Thursday, sending the index down to a three-week low.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, fell 3 percent to VND20.09 trillion ($871 million). The bourse saw 305 tickers gain and 115 lose.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 26 tickers in the green, led by KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House with a 7 percent gain.

The ticker is now approaching its previous peak on January 25, having surged nearly 14 percent in the last five sessions.

It was followed by STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank with a 6.9 percent increase. The ticker is now over 4 percent away from its peak on April 12.

CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank rose 5.5 percent while VPB of private lender VPBank gained 4.1 percent to a new peak.

On the losing side, VJC of budget airline Vietjet fell 0.7 percent, while VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup dropped 0.4 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers after six net selling sessions to the tune of VND339 billion with strongest pressure on VIC, VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk and VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 1.19 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.82 percent.