Shares settled higher on Thursday, boosted mainly by banking stocks while foreign investors continued to run away from the market.

The market's benchmark VN-Index gained 10.09 points, 0.96 per cent, to end the day at 1,058.29 points. The index claimed back nearly 20 points after falling for the fourth straight session due to strong selling pressure.

The market's breadth was positive as the number of stocks adding points outnumbered those performing negatively. Specifically, 251 ticker symbols advanced, while 61 stocks went down.

However, liquidity declined over the previous session.

The index's rallies were thanks to gains in large-cap stocks, especially in the banking sector. The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on the southern bourse, increased by 11.92 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 1,055.26 points.

Twenty-six stocks of the VN30 basket rose, while only two declined. And two stocks stayed flat.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also inched higher on Thursday. It closed the trading session at 210.84 points, an increase of 2.87 points, or 1.38 per cent.

During the session, more than 70.1 million shares were traded on HNX, worth more than 1.2 trillion (US$473.1 million).

Of the top five stocks dominating the market trend, there were three bank stocks, led by BIDV (BID) with a gain of nearly 2.3 per cent. The other two stocks were Vietinbank (CTG) and VPBank (VPB), up 2.77 and 1.74 per cent, respectively.

Hoa Phat Group (HPG)'s and Vingroup (VIC)'s positive performances also lifted the market's sentiment.

On the other hand, foreign capital continued to exit the market as foreign investors net sold VND109.54 billion on the main southern exchange HoSE. They net bought VND16.72 billion on HNX. — VNS