Benchmark indices finished higher yesterday, buoyed by oil and gas stocks, but gains were capped by losses in banking, manufacturing and real estate sectors and outflows of foreign capital.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index finished the day at 1.064.63 points, up 2.84 points, or 0.27 per cent. It lost over 4 points on Wednesday despite positive news that the central bank cut interest rates for the third time.

The market’s breadth was negative as decliners outnumbered gainers on the southern exchange. Meanwhile, liquidity was slightly higher than the previous session, of which the trading value on HoSE rose by 2.63 per cent to more than VND11.7 trillion (US$498.6 million), equal to a trading volume of 669.5 million shares.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index also inched up to 1.062.15 points. It added 0.6 points, or 0.06 per cent, yesterday.

In the VN30 basket, 12 stocks climbed while 15 closed lower. And three stocks traded flat.

The VN-Index escaped the morning course to rebound in the afternoon session after PV Gas (GAS) witnessed a sharp increase of nearly 2.4 per cent.

The strong rally of GAS shares lifted other stocks in the PetroVietnam (PVN) family, including PV Coating (PVB), PetroVietNam Chemical And Services JSC (PVC), PV Drilling (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), with PVB logging the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent.

Many stocks in the group also recouped the morning losses to return to the reference prices or edged up in the last trading minutes.

Also supporting the index, Vietcombank (VCB), Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), Vinhomes (VHM), and FPT Corporation (FPT) performed well. All the stocks rose in a range of 0.65-4.04 per cent.

However, the index’s gain was limited by strong falls in banking, manufacturing and realty stocks. Leading the bearish trend was VPBank (VPB), down 1.03 per cent. It was followed by Sacombank (STB), Vietinbank (CTG), MBBank (MBB), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), and GIC Group (DIG).

The benchmark continued to be under correction pressure at 1,070 - 1,075 points and adjusted to retest the 1,060 point-level, according to Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose for the second day in a row. It ended the trading day at 216.78 points, an increase of 0.82 points, or 0.38 per cent.

During the session, more than 94.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth over VND1.6 trillion.

The market was also weighed by the outflow of foreign capital as foreign investors withdrew a total of nearly VND388 billion on both main exchanges. In particular, they net sold a value of more than VND397 billion on HoSE, while net bought VND9.23 billion on HNX. — VNS