Stocks surged on Wednesday as investors hunted bargains amid a bullish sentiment felt across the board.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE), the VN-Index started off the afternoon rising steadily. It fell slightly at 2:20pm on brief selling pressure but then quickly regained its momentum. It eventually reached its peak of 1,040.55 points at 3pm, up 15.87 points (1.55 per cent) from the previous session.

The exchange was overrun by gainers with 242 stocks on the increase, against 85 faring badly. Among the stocks, 19 hit ceiling prices whereas five sat at the other end.

Despite the optimistic sentiment, HOSE was not hectic on Wednesday as investors traded just 469 million shares on the exchange, equivalent to about VND7.1 trillion (US$300 million).

The VN30-Index echoed the VN-Index pattern but with a larger gain. It gained 19.47 points (1.92 per cent) to reach 1,034.43 points. In the basket, gainers outnumbered losers by 25 to four. Only one hit ceiling prices whereas none touched the bottom.

The rising tide lifted all boats but not equally. BIDV (BID) saw the biggest boost with a gain of 3.51 per cent in price. Other major stocks benefiting from the optimism included Hoa Phat Group (HPG), VietinBank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), PetroVietnam (GAS), and Vinamilk (VNM).

The securities sector rose strongly on Wednesday on the back of the bargain-hunting. It climbed by 3.57 points (4.57 per cent) to hit 81.79 points. In the sector, SSI securities grew by 3.84 per cent, followed by VNDirect Securities (VND) and Viet Capital Securities (VCI).

Construction materials was another sector behind the market pickup. In the sector, Hoa Phat Group (HPG) gained 4.5 per cent. Hoa Sen Group (HSG) followed suit with 6.87 per cent and Vicostone (VCS) 0.8 per cent. Heavy buying lifted the sector by 4.02 per cent.

Wholesale was also riding high on Wednesday, buoyed by 23 gaining stocks including Petrolimex (PLX), Digiworld (DGW) and PetroVietnam General Services (PET). Overall, the sector climbed by 2.95 per cent.

Closely correlating with the construction materials sector, construction was the next sector contributing to the market rally. One of the largest gainers in the sector was Lugiaco (LGC), which hit ceiling prices. Vinaconex came next with 6.25 per cent.

In the realty sector, the trio stocks of the Vin family - Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vincom (VRE) - saw mixed results. The first and the third gained 0.19 per cent and 0.37 per cent, respectively, whereas the second lost 0.72 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) followed the bullish trend with a rise of 4.4 points (2.19 per cent), ending at 206.83 points.

Foreign investors withdrew money from the market by net selling a total of around VND299.18 billion worth of shares on the two exchanges. Of which, they net sold VND312.86 billion on HoSE and net bought VND13.68 billion on HNX. VNS