The stock market settled up on Thursday, boosted by positive sentiment and inflows of foreign capital.

The market’s benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) ended the day at 1,055.82 points, an increase of 9.47 points, or 0.91 per cent.

It had gained a total of nearly 49 points in the last three sessions.

The breadth of the market returned to positive territory, with more stocks adding points. Specifically, 184 stocks advanced on the southern bourse, while 137 stocks inched lower.

However, liquidity was lower in the southern market. Of which, investors poured nearly VND9.2 trillion (US$391.3 million), down 12.38 per cent over the previous session.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also increased by 11.75 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 1,061.9 points.

Twenty-five stocks in the VN30 basket witnessed a positive performance on the trading day, with one stock hitting the maximum daily rise of 7 per cent, while only four tumbled. And one stock stayed unchanged.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also moved up. The northern market’s benchmark closed on Thursday at 213.11 points, a gain of 0.05 points, or 0.02 per cent.

During the session, nearly 57 million shares were traded on HNX, worth VND819.8 billion.

The market continued its bullish beginning, up for the third consecutive day.

From a medium- and long-term standpoint, the market sent positive signals in the final trading session of last year and the first few sessions of this year.

"Opportunities for medium- and long-term investors become more and more obvious. Long-term investors can continue to increase the proportion of stock holdings at the moment to catch the new phases of accumulation and boom of the market," said analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities SJC (SHS).

"The market started the new year with a very positive session. We expect the market will move in a more positive trend than last year, and investment opportunities will be there for both short-term and medium- and long-term investors."

Statistics showed that the banking, manufacturing, utilities, and real estate industries led the market’s rallies. Specifically, Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest gainer in market capitalisation with an increase of 1.45 per cent, followed by Vinamilk (VNM), PV Gas (GAS), Vinhomes (VHM), and Hoa Phat Group (HPG), up in a range of 1.43-2.4 per cent.

Also lifting the market’s sentiment, big names like PV POWER (POW), Sacombank (STB), Sabeco (SAB), Vincom Retail (VRE), and Techcombank (TCB) also posted great performances, of which POW shares even registered the biggest daily gain of 7 per cent.

Foreign investors also supported the market as they kept pouring capital into the two main exchanges. They net bought VND673.68 billion on HoSE and VND8.26 billion on HNX. — VNS