The benchmark VN-Index on the main bourse in HCM City gained over 1.2 per cent to close the session at 586.8 points, making up for the 0.3 per cent slip on Wednesday. — Photo VNS Gia Vi

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — After a short pause on Wednesday, shares advanced yesterday on the two markets as investors readied for the release of companies' third quarter earnings reports, many betting on positive numbers.

The benchmark VN-Index on the main bourse in HCM City gained over 1.2 per cent to close the session at 586.8 points, making up for the 0.3 per cent slip on Wednesday.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also trimmed losses with an increase of 0.9 per cent, ending yesterday at 80.4 points.

Real estate companies attracted a great deal of attention as many of the realty stocks climbed steadily. Of the top 20 property stocks by market value, spanning from VND1 trillion (US$44.4 million) to VND80 trillion ($3.6 billion), 18 gained in value.

FLC Group (FLC), Becamex Infrastructure Development (IJC), Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA), Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate (HQC) and Kinh Bac City Development (IJC) were the biggest gainers with increases of 5-6 per cent. These were among the top 10 most active stocks yesterday in the HCM City's market.

FLC was the most active with 12.8 million shares traded, closing up 6 per cent at VND7,100 ($0.31) a share.

Most realty stocks increased between 1 per cent and 3 per cent.

"Real estate and construction companies typically have better earning results at the end of the year since they take more revenues and profits in the accounts," analysts at BIDV Securities Co wrote in a note.

They said the third-quarter earnings would be the focus of the market in October.

Many large-cap stocks also performed well yesterday. Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietcombank (VCB), logistics Gemadept (GMD), steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) Vietinbank (CTG) and Sacombank (STB) gained between 3 and 6 per cent.

Military Bank (MBB) saw the most foreign trade activity yesterday as foreign investors bought almost 40.6 million shares worth VND643.7 billion ($28.6 million) after foreign holding in this lender increased to 160 million shares. More than 9.3 million MBB shares also changed hands on the stock exchange yesterday, but its price was down 2 per cent to close at VND15,100 ($0.67) a share.

Overall market condition was good with 42 per cent of trading stocks advancing and 21.5 per cent declining.

Liquidity also improved with a total of 247.6 million shares worth VND3.7 trillion ($164.4 million) being traded in the two markets in the afternoon, up 25 per cent in volume and 14 per cent in value over Wednesday. — VNS