The markets rallied on Thursday thanks to strong investor interest in large-cap stocks and positive information from the global market.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange was up 0.20 per cent to 924.42 points. It added 0.39 per cent to close at 922.56 points on Wednesday.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index climbed 0.63 per cent to end at 104.55 points. It slipped 0.01 per cent to end at 103.90 points on Wednesday.

Nearly 215 million shares worth a combined VND4.6 trillion (US$196 million) were traded on the two bourses.

Market breadth was balanced with 215 stocks gaining, 215 declining and 319 remaining unchanged.

World stock markets rose on Wednesday, with Wall Street tipping higher on gains in technology and energy shares, while oil rebounded from a steep sell-off as US government data pointed to strong demand.

Thanks to the support of large-cap stocks such as Vinhomes (VHM), TPBank (TPB), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World (MWG), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and VPBank (VPB), market indices remained strong.

VHM rose by 1.6 per cent to trade at VND77,000 per share. TPB jumped 4.5 per cent to VND28,100. VPB increased by 3 per cent to VND22,450. HDB gained 1.8 per cent to VND30,800.

ACB rallied by 1.7 per cent to trade at VND29,400 per share. The bank’s CEO Do Minh Toan registered to buy 500,000 shares of ACB. At the same time, Nguyen Van Hoa, deputy general director of ACB, also registered to buy 300,000 shares.

Do Minh Quan, son of Vice Chairman of the TPBank’s Board of Director Do Anh Tu, registered to buy 25 million shares of TPB, equivalent to 3.75 per cent of the bank’s capital. The information helped TPB increase by 1.1 per cent to VND27,200 per share.

Sara Vietnam JSC (SRA) soared exponentially, hitting the daily gain limit of 10 per cent in the past four trading sessions despite the news that the company’s chairman cum general director Dang Quang Nam failed to buy 300,000 SRA shares.

He registered to buy the shares in early October.

In the opposite direction, many other blue-chips such as PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), steel makers Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD), and Vincom Retail (VRE), saw momentum slow, restraining the upward movement of the indices.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) climbed 0.19 per cent to finish at 52.16 points. It closed flat at 52.06 points on Wednesday

According to Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Joint Stock Company (SHS), the VN-Index maintained its upward momentum for five consecutive sessions with liquidity still below the average level of the nearest 20 sessions.

“This shows that the price increases have not been attractive enough to draw large cash flow back to the market,” SHS said in its daily report.

With the US stock market being closed for the past two days this week, the Vietnamese market has an opportunity to show its real trends as investors will not rely on the global market’s movement to make trading decisions.

“The VN-Index is likely to continue rising towards the nearest threshold at 930 points, a short-term peak of the market,” SHS said. — VNS