Vietnamese shares inched higher on Tuesday as investors snapped up beaten-down shares following a bruising selloff in the previous session.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index rose 1.12 per cent to end at 1,218.93 points.

The index had fallen 2.32 per cent, to close Monday at 1,205.43 points.

Nearly 473.9 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, equivalent to VND11.2 trillion (US$473 million).

Market breadth was positive with 120 losers and 309 gainers.

Banking stocks all increased sharply with gainers including Military Bank (MBB), Techcombank (TCB), Tien Phong Bank (TPB), Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), VietinBank (CTG), Vietnam International Commercial JS Bank (VIB) and Saigon-Hanoi Commercial JS Bank (SHB).

Energy stocks recovered from the previous session with gainers such as Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD) and Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) and Binh Son Refinery (BSR).

The securities and steel sector also performed positively with gainers being VNDirect Securities Co (VND), Viet Capital Inc (VCI), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM), SMC Trading Investment JSC (SMC), Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Nam Kim Group (NKG) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG).

The 30 biggest stock tracker VN30-Index increased 0.91 per cent, to end at 1,241.07 points.

In the basket, 25 stocks climbed, and three slid, the other two were flat.

On a sector basis, 24 out of 25 sector indices on the stock market gained ground, including insurance, retail, oil and gas, banking, wholesale, construction, rubber production, IT, logistics, agriculture, real estate, securities, food and beverage, and construction materials.

Regarding the transactions of foreign investors, today they net bought on the HoSE and sold on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX).

Foreign investors net bought VND149.43 billion on HOSE. They were net sellers on HNX with a value of VND9.33 billion.

It is recommended that investors wait for the market to test the psychological support level of 1,200 points before making an investment decision, said BIDV Securities Co.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 1.01 per cent, to end Tuesday at 266.91 points.

The northern market index had lost 3.16 per cent to close Monday at 264.25 points.

Nearly 56.3 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND1.1 trillion. — VNS