The index rose by up to 16 points in the morning but gradually declined throughout the day and closed four points higher. It dipped 17 points Thursday when Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.
Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, fell nearly 27 percent to VND25.62 trillion ($1.12 billion).
The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 14 tickers in the green, with several banking stocks gained as investors picked up the dip.
VPB of private lender VPBank gained 3.5 percent, TPB of private TPBank rose 2.5 percent and HDB of HDBank increased by 1.6 percent.
Other gainers included SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, up 2.5 percent, GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group and KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House, both up 0.9 percent.
Thirteen blue chip stocks fell, with VJC of budget airline Vietjet losing 2 percent, PLX of fuel distributor Petrolimex falling 1.6 percent and GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas dropping 1.5 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND67 billion with focus on HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and VND of brokerage VNDirect.
The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 1.21 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.3 percent.