The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 180 stocks gaining and 176 losing.

Notably, 30 stocks, none of them blue chips, hit their ceiling prices in Friday’s trading session.

Total trading volume fell back down to VND5 trillion ($216.29 million), after HoSE experienced its second busiest trading session so far this year on Thursday, when it rose to VND7.36 trillion ($318.39 million).

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest caps added 0.27 percent, with 12 stocks gaining and 15 losing.

ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros topped gains with 2.6 percent, followed by EIB of private Eximbank, with 2.4 percent, and VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, with 2.2 percent.

HDB of private HDBank and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes both rose 2.1 percent, followed by VPB of private VPBank and VCB of state-owned banking giant Vietcombank with 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

VHM, VCB and VRE were the three biggest contributors to the VN-Index’s gains this session, contributing a total of 2.97 points to the index this session, while the 10 biggest losing stocks this session only took away 0.83 points, according to data from brokerage firm VNDIRECT.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, and parent corporation of both Vincom Retail and Vinhomes, kept its opening price this session.

In the opposite direction, BID of Vietnam’s largest state-owned lender by assets, BIDV, led losses with 1.5 percent, followed by two stocks in oil and gas, namely POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, both falling 1.4 percent. 

The other major losers were a mixed bag, with NVL of real estate developer Novaland dropping 1.1 percent, TCB of private Techcombank and CTD of construction giant Coteccons both shedding 1 percent, and BVH of insurance giant Bao Viet Group down 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange edged up 0.16 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market edged up 0.04 percent.

Foreign investors turned net sellers on all three bourses to the tune of VND17 billion ($735,400), with buying pressure mostly on mid-cap stocks listed on the HNX.