Shares conclude the week on positive note

Customers at a branch of VPBank (VPB) in Ha Noi. VPB rose 5.7 per cent on Friday. - Photo courtesy of VPBank

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index increased 1.27 per cent to close Friday at 1,310.05 points, expanding the weekly gain to 3.2 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 1.25 per cent to end the day at 314.85 points. The southern market’s index increased 4.3 per cent this week.

Liquidity improved with more than 754 million shares worth total VND24.6 trillion (US$1.1 billion) traded on the two markets, up 12 per cent in volume and 33 per cent in value compared to Thursday’s levels.

Banks continued to lead the market as six of the 10 most influential stocks on the HCM City exchange were lenders.

They include VPBank (VPB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB) and LienVietPostBank (LPB) with growth of between 1 per cent and 6 per cent.

Other big gainers were Masan Group (MSN), Vingroup (VIC), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) and Vietnam Airlines (HVN).

Masan (MSN) climbed 4.9 per cent thanks to the information its consolidated revenue reached VND41.2 trillion ($1.8 billion), rising 16.4 per cent over the same period of last year.

Overall, gainers outnumbered losers in the VN30 basket (which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity) by 27:2. Only one closed flat.

Ending Friday, 18 out of 25 sectors tracked by vietstock.vn climbed, of which securities and ancillary production had growth rates of more than 2 per cent. Other sectors such as banking, rubber and plastic production, logistics, food and beverage, real estate, property and insurance also grew by more than 1 per cent.

According to analysts at BIDV Securities Co, the VN-Index now surpassed the threshold of 1,300 points. With increased liquidity and growth spreading to most sectors, they believe the market can continue to maintain the current uptrend into the first week of August.

Foreign traders were net buyers on both exchanges, picking up shares worth a net buy value of VND478 billion. Their buys focused on Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), Sacombank (STB) and Masan Group (MSN) on the HCM City’s bourse and VNDirect Securities (VND) and Dat Xanh Real Estate Service (DXS) on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange.