The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.38 per cent to close at 962.85 points.

The VN-Index increased by a total of 0.58 per cent last week.

Liquidity remained low with about 150.2 million shares traded on the southern bourse, worth VND3.4 trillion (US$145 million).

At the end of the afternoon session on Monday, many large-caps were hit strongly, including budget carrier Vietjet Air (VJC), Vincom Retail (VRE), brewery Sabeco (SAB), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vinamilk (VNM), FPT Corporation (FPT), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (POW).

On the positive side, some blue-chips maintained their upward trend such as Vietcombank (VCB) (up 2.8 per cent), Bank for Investment and Development (BID) (0.3 per cent) and Techcombank (TCB) (0.5 per cent).

The large-cap VN30-Index rose 0.28 per cent to end at 868.94 points. The large-cap basket had 17 gainers and 8 decliners, while five stocks ended flat.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.07 per cent to end at 104.78 points.

Nearly 25 million shares were exchanged on the northern market, worth VND317 billion.

The best-performing sectors included insurance, real estate, mining, agriculture and banking, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Foreign investors Monday net sold a total of VND92.95 billion on HOSE, focusing on Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company (SBT) (VND111.12 billion), Vinamilk (VNM) (VND23.8 billion) and Vinhomes (VHM) (VND23.5 billion). They bought a net total of VND1.4 billion on the HNX.

According to BIDV Securities Company (BSC), the domestic markets will continue to witness low liquidity as investors wait for new developments in the US-China trade war, the G20 summit and the US-Iran conflict.

Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC) said in its report that VN-Index was expected to adjust to the support zone of 950-955 points before recovering to the resistance zone of 965-966 once more.

“Passing this resistance zone, the market can head towards 977-983 points in the short term,” BVSC said.

Bank and oil and gas stocks are entering short recoveries as expected. However, these two groups’ stocks are forecast to experience correction before continuing to recover.

Stock exposure should be maintained around 35-40 per cent of the portfolio. Banking, oil and gas, industrial zone, information technology and real estate stocks are anticipated to attract interest in the next week.

The UPCoM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) gained 0.06 per cent to close Monday at 55.15 points. — VNS