An investor trades shares at An Binh Securities Co. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares extend rallies on Monday morning as retailers were upbeat about strong purchasing.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 1.41 per cent to close at 768.59 points.

The VN-Index rose a total of nearly 8 per cent last week.

More than 135 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.40 trillion (US$103 million).

Of the total, more than 123 million shares were traded via order-matching transactions, worth VND1.83 trillion.

The retail sector gave a major boost to the stock market in the early session as the industry index jumped nearly 4.6 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Lifting the retail sector were Mobile World Investment Corp (MWG), Hang Xanh Motors Service JSC (HAX) and FPT Retail (FRT).

The three stocks gained 5 per cent, 6.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

Hang Xanh Motors shares had fallen a total of nearly 2.7 per cent last Thursday and Friday.

The company on May 6 will pay its 2019 dividend in cash at a rate of 15 per cent, meaning shareholders will receive VND1,500 per share.

The ex-dividend day is April 17. On this day, every share will be traded without the subsequent dividend value.

Other sectors that also advanced included energy and mining, insurance, securities, and banking.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up 1.12 per cent to end Monday morning at 107.37 points.

The northern market index soared a total of 8.52 per cent last week.

Nearly 27 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND303.3 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS