News of reopening economic activities in HCMC boosted investor sentiment in the morning and pushed the index up 13 points in the early afternoon, though selling pressure quickly pulled it down to close with a two-point drop.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, fell 5 percent to VND24.53 trillion ($1.08 billion).

Foreign investors ended a chain of 16 net selling sessions with a VND56 billion net buy.

Their top purchases were VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup, and NVL of real estate developer Novaland Group.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 15 tickers in the red, led by GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas with a 3.4 percent drop.

The ticker pulled VN-Index down by 1.6 points.

GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group fell 3 percent.

MSN of conglomerate Masan Group lost for the second session after a four-session gain, shedding 2.1 percent.

Other losers included SAB of brewer Sabeco and TPB of private TPBank, both down 1.7 percent.

Thirteen tickers ended in the green, with PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate Development gaining 3.6 percent and VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank, 2.5 percent.

VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk rose 2.5 in its third gaining session in a row.

TCB of the largest private lender Techcombank also went up for the third session with a 1.9 percent gain.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.25 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.05 percent.