Vietnamese shares rose for a second session on Friday, driven by property developer Vingroup and its sub-units as well as energy firms.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.63 per cent to close at 959.60 points. It inched up 0.08 per cent on Thursday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange increased by 0.56 per cent to end at 106.24 points, totaling a two-day growth of 0.64 per cent.

The VN-Index has marked weekly growth of 2.57 per cent and the HNX Index has risen 0.51 per cent over the week.

More than 237.8 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND5.37 trillion (US$238.8 million).

Property developer Vingroup (VIC) and its two sub-units Vincom Retail (VRE) and high-end property firm Vinhomes (VHM) were the main driving factor for the stock market on Friday after they released their earnings reports for the second quarter and first half of the year.

Vingroup has announced its pre-tax profit for the second quarter of the year jumped 90 per cent year-on-year to VND3.6 trillion. After six months, Vingroup posted VND6.26 trillion in pre-tax profit, nearly double last year’s figure.

Vincom Retail and Vinhomes also reported higher earnings compared to last year. Their pre-tax profits recorded the second quarter were VND772 billion for Vincom Retail and nearly VND5 trillion for Vinhomes.

In the first half of the year, Vincom Retail posted VND1.47 trillion in pre-tax profit while Vinhomes recorded VND9.85 trillion.

On the stock market, VIC, VRE and VHM gained 4.5 per cent, 3.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

VIC and VHM were also the two large-cap stocks of the real estate sector, boosting the industry index up 3.5 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Other property developers that made good gains included Hoa Binh Corp (HBC), Sacomreal (SCR) and Novaland (NVL).

Energy stocks advanced after oil prices traded in positive territory. Brent crude was up 1.46 per cent to end Thursday at $73.45 a barrel and was trading around that price on Friday.

Gas and oil stocks that performed well included PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Coating (PVB).

Other groups that saw stock prices rise included insurance-finance, agriculture, seafood processing and rubber production.

Large-cap stocks had a good session with the blue chip VN30 Index rising 0.35 per cent to 941.12 points and 13 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket advancing.

Foreign investors ended as net sellers by net-selling total VND437.6 billion. They net-sold VND150.46 billion on Thursday. – VNS