Viet Nam's stock market settled higher on the last trading day of the week, boosted by strong gains in many stock groups including fertilisers, food and beverage, oil and gas stocks.
The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) ended the week at 1,456.51 points, up 8.17 points, or 0.56 per cent.
The market's liquidity was positive with 303 stocks rising, while 148 slid. However, the liquidity was slightly lower than Thursday. Of which, investors poured over VND26.1 trillion (US$1.15 billion), equivalent to a trading volume of 874.07 million shares.
The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index rose 3.55 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 1.531.76 points. It reversed the downtrend after falling 0.13 per cent in the morning trade. Seventeen in the VN30 basket climbed, while 11 decreased and two stayed flat.
The benchmark was mainly driven by oil and gas stocks with PetroVietnam Gas (PVGas, GAS) rising the most, up 4.53 per cent.
Saigon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), Vinamilk (VNM), Petrolimex (PLX), Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) and Novaland (NVL) joined the top supporting group. These stocks jumped 0.9 -3.28 per cent, according to data compiled by vietstock.vn.
Fertiliser stocks also attracted cash flow in the early afternoon session, supporting the market's bullish sentiment. PetroVietnam Fertiliser & Chemicals Corporation (DPM) and PetroViet Nam Ca Mau Fertiliser JSC (DCM) even hit the biggest intraday gain of 7 per cent.
Meanwhile, the financial sector was still stuck in the downtrend as selling force remained. Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID) and Techcombank (TCB) were among the biggest losers. Losses in Vinhomes and Vincom Retail (VRE) also weighed on the market.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index inched up 5.22 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 427.64 points.
During the trading session, more than 147.1 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VND3.5 trillion.
On the other hand, foreign investors were net buyers on both main exchanges yesterday, with a total value of VND233.55 billion. Of which, they net bought a value of VND226.51 billion on the southern market and a value of VND7.04 billion on HNX.
In the morning trade, they net sold a value of VND54.63 billion on HoSE. — VNS