The benchmark VN-Index rose to yet another new 10-year peak on Monday, ending the session at 903.55 points, up 13 points, or 1.44 per cent over Friday’s close.

The southern market index advanced 2.6 per cent last week.

The upturn was driven mainly by strong growth of some individual blue-chip stocks, especially real estate giant VinGroup (VIC) and its retail arm Vincom Retail (VRE) which both hit the daily limit rise of 7 per cent.

VIC closed at VND76,300 (US$3.36) a share while a VRE share was traded at VND47,700 each.

At this price, market capitalisation of these two companies was a combined VND292 trillion (roughly $13 billion), surpassing the value of the biggest listed company Vinamilk at $11.9 billion.

VinGroup’s market value rose to the second place after Vinamilk (VNM) yesterday, while Vincom Retail’s market capitalisation ranked sixth, a big success since its debut on the HCM Stock Exchange on November 6.

Dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) also rose 2.1 per cent on Monday, hitting VND187,000 per share.

The Singapore-based Jardine Cycle and Carriage (JC&C), through its 100-per-cent owned company Platinum Victory Pte Ltd, has raised its stake in Vinamilk to 10 per cent.

It has become Vinamilk’s third largest shareholder after the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) with 36 per cent and another Singapore’s food and beverages company Fraser and Neave (F&N) with 18.7 per cent.

Other winning large caps included PV Gas (GAS), up 3.1 per cent; Binh Minh Plastics (BMP), up 6.3 per cent; Hau Giang Pharmaceutical (DHG), up 1.6 per cent; and FPT Corp (FPT), 2.1 per cent.

In the VN30 (which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the HCM Stock Exchange), list, 18 stocks gained and 11 lost.

The overall market condition was rather neutral with 143 stocks rising, 129 falling and 57 closing flat.

Despite a strong rally yesterday, Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC) analysts have still warned of a possible correction after a strong rally.

“After an overheating period, the market is likely to experience short-term downtrend to ease the profit-taking pressure. However, the market may not tumble but decline slightly amidst a wide divergence among groups of stocks,” Tran Hai Yen, a BVSC analyst, wrote in a report yesterday.

Liquidity recorded a 7-session low at 176 million shares worth over VND5.66 trillion ($249.5 million). Foreign investors were net sellers for a modest value of VND46 billion.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, without the support of large-cap stocks, the HNX-Index dropped 0.18 per cent to close at 108.11 points. – VNS