The index started off with a drop to the 1,190 range and continued sideways throughout the day before ending with a nearly 7-point drop.

It still gained 1.05 percent this week mostly thanks to the near 15-point surge Thursday that helped it approach the historic peak of 1,204.33 points made in 2018.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, surged 12 percent to VND17.2 trillion ($744 million), the highest in the last seven sessions.

The VN30 basket, which comprises the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 20 tickers in the red, led by TCH of real estate company Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services JSC, down 3.4 percent.

TCH has been struggling to return to this year’s peak in mid-January at nearly 15 percent shy.

VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank also fell 3.4 percent. The ticker has been on a downward trend since January and is 4 percent away from returning to this year’s bottom.

VJC of budget airline Vietjet fell 3.3 percent, its steepest fall in a day since Feb. 8.

Other big losers included POW of electricity distributor Petrovietnam Power Corporation, down 3.2 percent, and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail, down 2.9 percent.

On the winning side, REE of industrial appliance maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) led with a 3.9 percent increase to a 15-day high.

Foreign investors continued as net sellers for the 20th session in a row to the tune of VND1.1 trillion, tripling from Thursday.

Selling pressure was strongest on NVL of Novaland Group and VRE.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.08 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.26 percent.