Shares edged higher on Friday morning, boosted by gains in bank stocks and some other large-cap stocks in the manufacturing sector.
The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 6.84 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 1,352.71 points. The market's breadth was positive with 265 stocks increasing, while 136 stocks declined.
The liquidity also improved, showing the return of investors' risk appetite. Accordingly, investors poured over VND12 trillion (US$527.6 million) into the southern bourse, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 462 million shares.
The benchmark's rally was driven by bank stocks and some other large-cap stocks. The VN30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE, posted a gain of 6.18 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,455.16 points.
Of the VN30 basket, 16 stocks climbed, while 10 slid and four stayed flat.
Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that Vinamilk (VNM) was the market's leader this morning with a rise of 2.08 per cent to VND88,200 per share.
Also supporting the market were big bank stocks including BIDV (BID), VPBank (VPB) and Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPB). All these shares rose more than 1.5 per cent this morning.
Duc Giang Chemicals Group (DGC), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Vietnam Airlines (HVN), Hoa Phat Group (HPC) and FPT Corporation (FPT) also added support to the index's uptrend, with DGC shares even hitting the biggest daily gain of 7 per cent.
On the downside, losses of some pillar stocks limited the market's rally. There stocks were Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (SAB), PetroVietnam Gas (PVGas, GAS), Masan Group (MSN) and Vingroup (VIC).
On Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 3.84 p oints, or 1.09 per cent, to 357.08 points. VNS