The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.45 per cent to close at 556.81 points, while the HNX Index on Ha Noi market lost 0.33 per cent to finish at 76.32 points.
Ma San Group (MSN) lifted the benchmark market, growing 4.5 per cent after foreign investors bought more than 182,000 shares of MSN yesterday, equal to 70 per cent of its trading volume.
Foreign investors on the southern market yesterday ended as net buyers after being net sellers for four consecutive trading days, while those on the northern bourse recorded a third day as net buyers.
Foreign investors yesterday recorded a net buy value of VND37.5 billion (US$1.67 million) on both bourses.
Other large-cap shares on the southern market also rose to support the market. Among them, Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) gained 1.8 per cent and Vingroup Corp (VIC) was up nearly 1 per cent. Pha Lai Thermal Power Co (PPC) recorded a gain of 4 per cent.
Energy firms had strong growth, but a decline in global oil prices for the second day in a row dragged them down.
Yesterday West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed at 45.56 points, a 2.5 per cent decrease from Thursday.
At the end of the day gas shares closed in mixed directions. Petrovietnam Gas Corp (GAS), Petrovietnam Drilling & Well Service Corp (PVD) and Petroleum Technical Services Corp (PVS) rose 0.4 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.
Most other energy firms on local bourses declined. Petroleum Construction Co (PVX) lost 3.23 per cent and Petrovietnam Transportation Corp (PVT) was down nearly 1 per cent.
Market trading was quite low compared with previous days. More than 103 million shares were traded on the bourses, worth VND1.45 trillion ($64.5 million).
On the HCM City market, Phat Dat Real Estate Development Co (PDR) was the most active stock with more than 4.1 million shares traded. PDR was down 0.63 per cent at the end of the day.
On the Ha Noi market, Kim Vi Inox Import-Export Production (KVC) fell 9.57 per cent and finished as the most active stock with more than 2.4 million shares traded.
