Vietnamese stock indices ended on a positive note on Wednesday, led by banks, insurance companies and agriculture firms on positive market information.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange added 0.51 per cent to close at 760.77 point. Viet Nam’s key stock index has rallied a total 1.5 per cent over the last three sessions.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index rose 0.59 per cent to end at 97.89 points, extending gains for a second day with total growth of 1.1 per cent.

More than 259.6 million shares worth VND4.93 trillion (US$219 million) were traded on both local bourses, a decrease of 5.6 per cent in volume and 8.6 per cent in value compared to Tuesday.

Large-cap stocks also performed well with nearly two-thirds of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation and liquidity gaining.

The banking, insurance and agriculture sectors posted the biggest gains with their sector indices growing 1.8 per cent, 2 per cent and 4.1 per cent, respectively.

The banking sector index was pulled up by eight of the nine listed banks. Shares of BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), MBBank (MBB) and Vietcombank (VCB) were among the strongest gainers, rising between 1.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent.

The growth of bank stocks may be a result of investor confidence on speculations that a new policy to help local lenders resolve bad-debt will be approved by the National Assembly, tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn reported.

The agriculture segment was kept positive by Hoang Anh Gia Lai Co (HAG) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agricultural Investment (HNG), which hit the daily trading limit of 6.9 per cent.

HAGL Agrico has announced it will organise its annual shareholder meeting on June 30.

In 2017, HAGL targets total revenue of VND4.5 trillion on expectations that commodity prices, especially rubber prices, will rise.

Rubber prices on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 1 per cent to trade at 197.4 yen per kilogramme on expectations that the three biggest rubber exporters at a meeting this weekend will come up with a decision to limit their production to keep price up, Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) reported.

Natural rubber producers such as HAGL Agrico could help the stock market advance further in the next sessions on a rising rubber price and expected good second-quarter performance of those companies, BVSC added. — VNS