Shares rose on the two local exchanges on Monday morning, driven by finance-banking stocks on expectations of positive earnings in the first quarter of this year.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.7 per cent to close at 715.29 points. The southern market index dropped 0.6 per cent on Friday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange added 0.4 per cent to end at 88.7 points. The northern market index rallied a total of 1.6 per cent in the previous four sessions.

The finance-banking sector, in particular, lifted the stock market this morning, with firms expected to release positive earnings reports for the first quarter.

Seven of the nine listed banks advanced, including MBBank (MBB), Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB), Sacombank (STB) and Vietcombank (VCB).

The insurance and brokerage sectors were boosted by large-cap stocks such as Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), HCM City Securities Corp (HCM), VNDirect Securities Corp (VND) and Sài Gòn Securities Inc (SSI).

Stocks in the property sector continued to perform well, with share prices of Đất Xanh Real Estate Service & Construction Corp (DXG), FLC Group (FLC), Hoàng Quân Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate Corp (HQC) and Sài Gòn Thương Tín Real Estate JSC (SCR) all rising.

Market trading liquidity was high with nearly 128.5 million shares being traded worth VND2.6 trillion (US$116.27 million). — VNS