Shares on the two local bourses struggled to maintain last week’s upward trend, marking just a slight gain on Monday and experiencing strong volatility with big variation in large-caps’ prices.

The benchmark VN Index gained 0.15 per cent to close at 911.11 points. It gained 1.25 per cent last Friday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange added 0.59 per cent to end at 103.12 points, extending its growth of 2.07 per cent last Friday.

More than 173.3 million shares worth VND3.9 trillion (US$169 million) were traded on both bourses, a slight increase in both trading volume and value over Friday.

The market breadth improved, with the number of gaining stocks outnumbered the declining ones by 245 to 169 while 326 other stocks were unchanged.

The VN-30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 biggest shares by market capitalisation and trading liquidity, gained 0.53 per cent to close at 904.18 points.

Among large-cap stocks that advanced, the strongest gainers were property developers, construction companies, energy firms and financial businesses, with stocks like FLC Faros Construction (ROS), Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp (KBC), Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), Vietcombank (VCB), Military Bank (MBB), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), retailer Vincom Retail (VRE) and dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM).

Notably, among small- and mid-cap stocks, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HAG) hit the daily limit rise of 7 per cent. However, the selling force on HAG was also quite large.

The northern market index was also driven up by large-cap shares such as Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Bao Viet Securities (BVS), PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) and Vicostone JSC (VCS).

Selling pressures gradually dragged down many blue-chips at the end of the trading session, with decliners including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (0.7 per cent), Vinhomes JSC (3 per cent), property developer Vingroup (0.5 per cent) and Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (0.4 per cent).

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), investor confidence showed signs of improvement but they remained cautious and sceptical that the market would maintain its upward trend.

Friday’s session sent no clear technical signal. The VN-Index fluctuated between 859 and 916 points, BVSC said.

“It’s probable that the market will fluctuate in narrow bands with alternate ups and downs in upcoming sessions,” it added.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) inched up 0.06 per cent to finish at 49.30 points. It gained 0.91 per cent to finish at 49.27 points in the previous session. — VNS