The VN-Index trod water to close yesterday's session at 520.72 points, advancing 0.34 per cent after five straight days of declines.
However, trading activities seemed to ease off with only 45.2 million shares changing hands, 24.03 per cent lower than Thursday's session, at a value of VND1.6 trillion (US$84.2 million).
The southern market saw 107 among 289 listed shares advance, with Masan Group (MSN) achieving the ceiling increase of 5 per cent. On Thursday, Masan announced a partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) after the IFC had invested nearly $400 million in the company.
Meanwhile, Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI) was the most active stock, with 2.33 million shares changing hands, followed by Sacombank (STB) with 1.9 million.
Analysts from Au Viet Securities said investor sentiments had begun to settle since the end of Thursday's session when pressure to cut losses with penny stocks fell.
The current market correction lowered share prices, especially among blue chips, to a profitable buying level while investors began to look for safe-havens in the market, they said, pointing to the rebound of big stocks like MSN, Vietcombank (VCB) and Vinamilk (VNM) which contributed significantly to the market rally yesterday.
"However, investor sentiments seem to be cautious of the global situation which recently dragged them down," said Nguyen The Manh, a broker with a HCM City-based securities firm, noting the lower trading volume yielded in the session.
"The caution could calm down when investors realise how close the local economy links to the global market, combined with how well the internal economy moves," Manh said, referring to the upcoming release of CPI and trade deficit data.
The HNX-Index for the Ha Noi market continued falling for another day, but only by an insignificant 0.26 per cent, leaving the index to reserve Thursday's standings at 172.71 points.
Trading activities were a bit higher than Thursday with 44.4 million shares traded to generate a turnover of VND1.5 trillion ($78.9 million). PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) continued an impressive show with 10.3 million shares changing hands in the day's trades.
Foreigners took advantage of the market rally in HCM City to seek profits yesterday with a net sale of 30,000 shares. They continued their profit-taking in Ha Noi with net sales of 75,000 shares for VND3 billion ($157,894) in returns.