Shares struggles to advance amid international tensions
Shares struggles to advance amid international tensions
Vietnamese shares inched upwards up on Friday, driven by technology, construction materials, and mining and energy sectors while market sentiment was clouded by worries about the increase of virus infection cases and US-China tension. 
The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rose 0.17 per cent to end at 841.46 points, extending its rally for a fifth day with total growth of nearly 5.40 per cent.
The blue-chip index VN30 inched up 0.07 per cent to 782.15 points and the VN30 futures maturing on August 20 gained 0.59 per cent to 780.6 points on Friday.
Mid-cap and small-cap stocks bounced back in the afternoon session to drive the market up, with the two indices ending up 0.42 per cent and 0.80 per cent, respectively.
The building materials, mining and energy, and technology industry indices grew by 0.29-0.65 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.
In the three sectors, Binh Duong Mineral and Construction JSC (KSB), steel producer Hoa Sen (HSG), tech group FPT Corp (FPT), ceramic and tile producer Viglacera (VGC) and the Vietnam Electrical Equipment JSC (GEX) were among strong gainers.
Those stocks surged between 0.6 per cent and 7 per cent.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange the HNX-Index fell 0.51 per cent to close Friday at 112.78 points.
The northern market index lost 0.59 per cent on Thursday.
The HNX-Index gained a total of 4.9 per cent this week.
Nearly 295 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND4.93 trillion (US$212.3 million).
Foreign investors net-sold VND79.4 billion worth of shares.
The strong gains of mid-cap and small-cap stocks helped balance poor market sentiment as investors worried about tension between the US and China, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.
The number of coronavirus infection cases in Viet Nam increased on Friday and weighed on the market sentiment, MBS said.
As of 6pm on Friday, the total number of virus cases in Viet Nam was 784 and 10 patients had died.
The market had been more positive in recent days when investors became more optimistic about the possibility the disease would be soon controlled, Thanh Cong Securities Co (TCSC) said in a note.
The VN-Index was heading to 850-860 points but some struggles would appear, TCSC said.
