A view of VInhomes Ocean Park, a property project developed by Vinhomes JSC (HoSE: VHM). The company's shares were among 17 large-caps that rose on Thursday. — Photo baodauthau.vn

Vietnamese shares advanced for a third day as investors turned their attention back to large-cap items despite negative developments of global markets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rose 1.01 per cent to close at 938.13 points.

The VN-Index inched up 0.09 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 198 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VND3.3 trillion (US$142 million).

That included more than 183 million shares being traded via order-matching method, worth VND2.8 trillion – the highest in the last 10 days.

The market breadth was positive with 228 gaining stocks and 125 declining stocks.

Large-cap stocks were the main driver of market growth on Thursday, as the large-cap tracker VN30-Index increased by 0.88 per cent.

Seventeen of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket advanced while seven declined.

Large-cap gainers included FLC Faros Construction (ROS), property firms Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vinhomes (VHM), PetroVietnam Power (POW) and VPBank (VPB).

Mid-cap and small-cap trackers also rose 0.58 per cent and 0.62 per cent, respectively.

The strong growth of large-cap stocks made investors more optimistic about the potential recovery of the market in the short term, Thanh Cong Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

The VN-Index has approached the 940 point level but the resistance of 940-945 points will still be a challenge for the benchmark, TCSC said.

Local stocks will be classified into different directions and leading companies’ shares in each sector will continue luring capital to support the market, the company said.

According to Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co (SHS), the market will need a few days more to clearly see a trend.

Among big problems for the market now is foreign investors’ net selling, which was nearly VND340 billion on Thursday, the company said.

There are some reasons to believe that investors are not completely confident in the chance that the market will keep growing steadily in the near future, SHS added.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.25 per cent to end at 109.57 points.

The northern market index lost 0.70 per cent in the previous trading day.

More than 36.4 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND430 billion. — VNS