Market finishes higher after a week off

A vessel moored at PetroVietnam GAS Vung Tau Terminal. The GAS shares hit the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent on the first trading day after the Tet holiday. - Photo pvgas.com.vn

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 3.66 per cent, equivalent to 40.85 points, to end the first trading day of the year of the buffalo at 1,155.78 points. The gain ends its bearish trend that occurred in the last two trading days before the holiday.

At the end of the session, 425 stocks climbed, while just 43 stocks fell. Twenty eight stocks ended flat.

A strong increase in the VN30-Index contributed to the positive trend of the market. The large-cap tracker VN30-Index finished the trading day at 1,174.91 points, up more than 4 per cent, equivalent to 45.42 points.

All of the 30 large-cap stocks increased. Three stocks in the VN30 basket, which hit the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent, were PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), VPBank (VPB) and Vincom Retail JSC (VRE).

Many big stocks across all sectors also posted great performance yesterday.

Stocks from utilities, banking, production and construction sectors influenced the market trend yesterday. Top five influencing stocks were GAS, up 6.89 per cent, Techcombank (TCB), up 6.67 per cent, Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR), up 6.86 per cent, VPBank (VPB), up 6.88 per cent, and Vinhomes JSC (VHM), up 4.43 per cent.

Before the reopening day, many analysts were optimistic about the market. Nguyen Duy Dinh, a senior customer care specialist at MB Securities Co., said that cycles of many years showed that the market often gains points in the two weeks after the Tet holiday.

In fact, in the last 20 years, the possibility of gaining points of the VN-Index in the first five days after the holiday is around 65 per cent, higher than the possibility of losing points.

In the session, over 568 million shares were traded in the southern market, worth nearly VND14 trillion.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HXN), the HXN-Index posted an increase of 2.52 per cent to 230.57 points. The HNX30-Index also rose 4.1 per cent to 350.72 points.

On the northern bourse, investors poured in more than VND1.5 trillion, equivalent to more than 86.8 million shares.

In general, the market's liquidity was not high, with a total trading volume of over 700 million shares, worth VND16.1 trillion.

Meanwhile, foreign investors were net buyers on the southern bourse, pouring more than VND704.8 billion into the market. On the contrary, they net sold nearly VND2 billion of shares on the HXN.