Shares finished higher during the final trading session prior to the Tet holiday on Friday, propped up by the growth of banking and textile stocks.
The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 0.56 per cent to close at 1,478.96 points.
The index had declined 0.73 per cent, to finish Thursday at 1,470.76 points.
The market's breadth was positive with 307 gainers and 129 decliners.
On HoSE, investors poured over VND20.7 trillion (US$913.9 million) into the market, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 703 million shares.
The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, gained 1.03 per cent, to 1,532.24 points.
Of the VN30 basket, 21 stocks rose to cushion the market, while seven declined.
In the VN-30 basket, the most notable gainers were Tien Phong Bank (TPB) and FPT Corporation (FPT) as they both surpassed 4 per cent. They were followed by Phat Dat Real Estate (PDR), SSI Securities Inc (SSI), VPBank (VPB) and Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), all rising above 3 per cent. PVPower (POW), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Military Bank (MBB) all advanced more than 2 per cent
Meanwhile, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) was the strongest loser of the group as the company dropped 2 per cent.
Stocks in industry groups of banking and textile grew strongly, helping the VN-Index to end the session higher.
The banking group outperformed and supported the gains of the market with notable gainers including Bank for Invetment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Tien Phong Bank (TPB), Techcombank (TCB), VPBank (VPB), Military Bank (MBB), Sacombank (STB) and Eximbank (EIB).
The textile and garment industry experienced a positive trading day with notable industry-representative stocks increased strongly. In which, Century Synthetic Fiber Corporation (STK) hit the daily limit gain of 7 per cent. Song Hong Garment Joint Stock Company (MSH), Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading Joint Stock Company (TCM) and Viet Thang Corporation (TVT) all gained more than 6 per cent. TNG Investment and Trading JSC (TNG) advanced more than 2 per cent and Viet Nam National Textile & Garment Group (VGT) inched slightly above 1 per cent.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 1.33 per cent, to close Friday at 416.73 points.
It had lost 0.13 per cent to close Thursday at 411.27 points.
More than 67.6 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VND1.8 trillion. — VNS