HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices closed the week on a positive note, supported by improved demand for banking shares and several large-cap stocks, while liquidity on the main exchange increased sharply.
On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index gained 13.52 points, or 0.77 per cent, to close at 1,774.15 points.
The breadth of the market, however, was negative, as the number of decliners surpassed that of gainers. Trading activity strengthened, with 763.8 million shares traded on HoSE, worth over VNĐ16.3 trillion (US$632 million).
The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also gained 14.11 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 1,907.09 points.
Banking stocks were the main drivers of the market’s advance, with the sector index rising 1.59 per cent.
Sacombank (STB) was among the session’s strongest performers, hitting its ceiling price to end the day at VNĐ68,500 per share.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) also staged a strong recovery. After falling 0.73 per cent in the morning session, the stock reversed course in the afternoon trade to close nearly 4 per cent higher.
Gains spread across the banking sector. SeABank (SSB) rose 3.7 per cent, while LPBank (LPB) briefly hit its ceiling price before closing 3.6 per cent higher. Other major banking stocks, including VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), HDBank (HDB), SHB, VIB, VietinBank (CTG) and BIDV (BID), also finished in positive territory.
Within the VN30 basket, seven banking stocks gained more than 1 per cent, while banks accounted for eight of the 10 stocks making the strongest positive contributions to the VN-Index.
Large-cap stocks outside the banking sector also supported the market, particularly Vingroup (VIC) and Vinhomes (VHM), both of which reversed earlier losses.
VIC recovered from a slight decline of 0.13 per cent at the end of the morning session to close 1.55 per cent higher. VHM also reversed an earlier loss of 1.26 per cent to finish 0.47 per cent above its reference price.
The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) advanced 1.62 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 262.7 points. Investors poured VNĐ796.4 billion on the northern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of more than 57 million shares.
Meanwhile, foreign investors returned to net selling after two consecutive sessions of net buying. Particularly, they net sold a value of VNĐ480 billion on HoSE.
ACB faced the heaviest net-selling pressure, at more than VNĐ469 billion, followed by FPT Corporation (FPT) with VNĐ146 billion and Phu Nhuan Jewellery (PNJ) with VNĐ110 billion. — BIZHUB/VNS
