Benchmark indices extended rallies on risk-on sentiment, with the VN-Index hitting the highest in more than five months. Meanwhile, foreign investors withdrew capital from the southern market.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index ended Monday at 1,097.82 points, up 6.98 points, or 0.64 per cent. This is its highest close since January 31.

The index even broke through the level of 1,100 points in the morning trade. Last week, it finished Friday with a big gain of nearly 12.5 points.

VPBank Securities JSC said that the stock market witnessed a strong performance at the end of last week, with banking, stock, and retail industries being the main driving force.

A positive signal for the general market is the strong return of cash flows into large-cap stocks, strengthening the VN-Index rally trend toward the area of 1,100 - 1,200 points.

However, KB Securities Vietnam JSC said that the index will likely face pressure again when approaching the notable resistance zone of around 1,100 points.

The benchmark was lifted by large-cap and banking stocks as the breadth of the market was in negative territory, with losers surpassing gainers on the Ho Chi Minh bourse.

Liquidity also saw a decline over Friday's session. Of which, both trading value and volume on HoSE fell by 4 per cent and more than 5 per cent to VND17.56 trillion (US$747.3 million) and 948.36 million shares, respectively.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks by market value and liquidity on HoSE, also increased by 4.12 points, or 0.38 per cent, to close the first session of the week at 1,091.08 points.

In the VN30 basket, 16 stocks inched higher, while nine stocks went down, and five stayed unchanged.

Leading the market's bullish trend today was Vietcombank (VCB), up 3.27 per cent. It was followed by PVGas (GAS), Masan Group (MSN), FPT Corporation (FPT), and Vinhomes (VHM). The stocks climbed in a range of 0.56-2.5 per cent.

Also supporting the sentiment, Duc Giang Chemicals (DGC), Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Nam Kim Group (NKG), Gelex Group (GEX), and Petro Viet Nam Ca Mau Fertiliser JSC (DCM) performed well, up at least 1.75 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HoSE) also edged up to 226.56 points, raising its winning streak to nine days.

On the other hand, foreign capital saw a net outflow from the market. Particularly, foreign investors net sold VND112.76 billion on HoSE, but net bought a value of VND15.37 billion on HNX. — VNS