Vietnamese shares remained upbeat on Friday morning as financial-banking and consumer stocks continued to attract the attention of investors.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.59 per cent to close at 982.47 points, extending growth from a five straight-day increase of 3.24 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange rose 0.31 per cent to end at 116.77 points. It had advanced total 3 per cent in the previous four sessions.

More than 144.2 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND4.12 trillion (US$183 million).

Financial-banking and consumer stocks again were the most important factors that kept the market sentiment positive on expectations that these companies would deliver higher-than-expected earnings reports for the fourth quarter.

Five of the 10 listed banks advanced, including Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), VPBank, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) and Vietcombank (VCB).

Securities shares also posted good growth rates, such as Agribank Securities (AGR), BIDV Securities (BSI), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities (SHS) and FPT Securities (FTS).

Investors also drew investment in the consumer sector, which was driven up by brewer Sabeco (SAB), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM) and Kido Group (KDC).

On the opposite side, energy stocks were hit by investors’ short-selling. Those decliners included PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Coating (PVB).

The afternoon trade session starts at 1pm. — VNS