Vietnamese shares moved higher on Friday as investors cheered the speech by the Fed chairman Jerome Powell at a conference overnight.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.80 per cent to 881.67 points after having remained sluggish in the previous two trading days.

The VN-Index inched up 0.14 per cent on Thursday.

Market sentiment improved on Friday following the keynote speech made by Fed chairman Jerome Powell, indicating the US central bank will keep low rates to possibly achieve higher inflation at the end of the year.

Other markets in the Asia-Pacific region reacted well to the news as it showed risky assets such as stocks could get a boost from more foreign capital based on a cheaper US dollar.

Most of the sectors on the stock market increased such as consumer staples, information and technology, retail, brokerage, aquaculture, and insurance.

Large-cap stocks performed well with the blue-chip tracker VN30-Index rising 1.30 per cent. Its growth also bolstered market confidence in small-cap and medium-cap stocks.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index added 0.93 per cent to 126.08 points, extending its rally from a seven-day run of total 6.75 per cent.

Nearly 267 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND4.78 trillion (US$207.5 million).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS