Vietnamese shares rose on Friday as large-cap stocks were lifted by better market sentiment before the national holiday.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.56 per cent to close at 984.06 points.

The VN-Index has risen a total 0.74 per cent in the last three trading days.

The benchmark index dropped 0.84 per cent on a weekly basis.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.37 per cent to end at 102.32 points.

The northern market index has lost 0.90 per cent this week.

The local market was boosted by the recovery of large-cap stocks.

The large-cap VN30-Index on HoSE added 0.38 per cent to end at 892.51 points.

Nineteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket increased.

Among large-cap gainers were property firms Vingroup (VIC) and Vinhomes (VHM), Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and food and beverage supplier Masan (MSN).

Of those stocks, VIC and VHM were up 0.8 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively. VCB and BID advanced 1.2 per cent and 2.2 per cent.

The banking and realty sector indices were up 0.9 per cent and 0.5 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Other industry indices also made good gains such as retail (1.5 per cent), securities (2.2 per cent) and seafood processing (1.6 per cent).

Trading liquidity improved, signalling market sentiment was more positive. More than 61 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VND1.86 trillion (US$80 million).

Foreign investors remained net sellers, purchasing a total VND52 billion worth of shares on Friday.

According to Thanh Cong Securities (TCSC), though the stock market advanced and trading liquidity slightly increased, investors remained cautious.

However, there were still expectations in groups of stocks such as industrial realty and logistics that will benefit from future prospects of Viet Nam’s global trade, the company said.

Companies with speculations of M&A and divestment deals would also be attractive to investors for now, TCSC added.

But the stock market would continue facing pressure from international markets as the domestic market and Viet Nam’s economy had little positive information at the moment, TCSC forecast.

The Vietnamese stock market will close on Monday for Independence Day. — VNS