The VN-Index opened strong Friday, reaching its peak for the day above 672 in the first half hour of trading. However, by late in the afternoon stocks had faded, closing at the low for the session, up 0.81 points, or 0.1%, to 666.88. VCB (+3.5%) led gainers with the largest contribution to the index, followed by VIC (+2.1%), CTG (+1.2%), ROS (+6.8%) and MSN (+0.7%).