Shares rebounded on Friday as large-cap stocks returned to positive territory following a two-day decline.

The benchmark VN Index rose 0.96 per cent to close at 1,040.54 points. It had fallen nearly 4 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Meanwhile, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index slipped 0.19 per cent to end Friday at 121.27 points, reversing from its gain of 0.01 per cent on Thursday.

More than 465 million shares were traded on the two bourses, worth VND35.8 trillion (US$1.57 million).

Market trading conditions were negative with 188 advancing stocks, 245 losing ones and 310 stocks closing flat.

Large-cap stocks performed well as the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity, rose 1.5 per cent to 1,022.21 points.

Among the leading sectors, shares of banking, insurance and retail industry were the best gainers with those industry indices rising 0.01 per cent, 2.25 per cent and 1.37 per cent, respectively.

Major large-cap stocks rescued the market, with earners including brewery Sabeco (4.5 per cent), digital retailer Mobile World Investment Corporation (2.7 per cent), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (3.3 per cent) and dairy firm Vinamilk (3.7 per cent).

The trading value of put-through transaction in Vinhomes JSC, whose shares debuted on the HOSE on May 16 under the ticker VHM, reached nearly US$1.3 billion. This, according to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), helped the Viet Nam stock market have its first billion-dollar transaction.

Regarding order matching transaction, VHM settled at VND110,500 per share Friday with a ceiling bid volume of more than 1 million shares while no shares were sold during the trading session.

At this price, VHM’s market capitalisation reached VND296 trillion, while market capitalisation of the largest company Vingroup (VIC) and the third company Vinamilk (VNM) touched VND324 trillion and VND239 trillion, respectively.

This capitalisation of VHM accounted for 9.5 per cent of the VN Index stocks’ capitalisation. In other words, if VHM hits it ceiling price (up 7 per cent) in the next sessions, VN-Index would gain 0.66 per cent, equivalent to an increase of 6.8 points, BVSC said.

“Possible dramatic growth of VHM early next week would be a major support for the trend of VN-Index and market sentiment amid a lack of supportive information in Viet Nam and the rise of profit-taking pressure on large-cap stocks. Therefore, the market is expected to see stronger growth early next week,” BVSC said in its daily report.

It added that stronger buying demand for large-cap stocks in the second half of Friday’s session boosted VN-Index in the last minutes and opened up a chance for a market uptrend early next week.

In addition, as the second largest stock by capitalisation, if VHM is traded and hits it ceiling price, it will support the VN-Index and market sentiment. However, as liquidity has weakened lately, maybe the market has yet to hit the bottom, finalise the downtrend and rebound from the current price range, BVSC said. — VNS