Shares rose for the fourth consecutive session on the HCM Stock Exchange on Tuesday with an improvement in liquidity, largely on the strength of a handful of individual blue-chips.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange was up 0.70 per cent to close at 956.39 points, making a four-session gain of 3.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, the HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange dropped 0.56 per cent to end at 106.16 points, reversing its three-session increase of 3.0 per cent.

Market trading liquidity showed improvement with some 282.5 million shares traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND5.1 trillion (US$223 million).

Market trading conditions were quite positive on Tuesday, with 208 declining stocks against 225 gainers, while 309 other stocks remained unchanged.

Cash flow drove up 13 of the 20 sectors on the stock market. Key industries that saw share prices increase included banking-financial, securities and insurance, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The VN30 Index, which tracks the 30 largest shares by market capitalisation, was up 0.51 per cent to end at 944.38 points.

Bank stocks were the darlings of the market on Tuesday, with Vietcombank (VCB) and Techcombank (TCB) rising 2.1 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively, driving the whole market up.

Three giants in the securities sector, Sai Gon Securities Incorporation (SSI), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM) and VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), also saw their share prices climb.

Many other individual large-cap stocks such as insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), real estate developer Novaland (NVL) and Masan Group (MSN), also increased strongly and helped maintain the upward trend of the VN-Index.

BVH has just announced positive business results with six-month consolidated revenue estimated at VND20.8 trillion, up 38 per cent year-on-year. Blue-chip stocks such as Petro Vietnam Gas JSC (GAS), FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (ROS), Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI) and Vincom Retail (VRE) also maintained their rally.

According to Bao Viet Securities, the market ended on a positive note Tuesday amid improved liquidity and large-cap stocks’ rising momentum. However, if the trade in penny stocks fails to remain active, trading volume could quickly decrease in the next sessions.

“The market will still experience a divergence among groups of stocks and the VN-Index may slightly drop when it approaches the 960-962 zone. Aggressive buying at all costs is unnecessary at present,” BVSC said in its daily report.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) gained 0.38 per cent to finish Tuesday at 50.48 points. It had risen 0.62 per cent on Monday. — VNS