Customers at a branch of Vietinbank (CTG). CTG hit the daily limit rise of 7 per cent on Wednesday. — Photo courtesy of Vietinbank

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares nudged higher on Wednesday as investors poured cash flow into blue-chip stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.94 per cent to end the morning session at 1,143.21 points.

Nearly 790.5 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ18 trillion (US$782.6 million).

Market breadth was positive with 244 gainers and 197 decliners.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index was up 0.85 per cent to 1,113.72 points.

Seventeen of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket increased while thirteen declined.

Three banking stocks in the VN-30 basket, Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB) and HDBank (HDB), all soared with CTG and VCB hitting the ceiling prices, HDB gained more than 5 per cent.

Other blue-chips such as Hoàng Huy Investment Financial Services JSC (TCH), Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID) and Eximbank (EIB) gained more than 4 per cent.

Military bank (MBB), Khang Điền House (KDH) and Novaland (NVL), Sacombank (STB) and Techcombank (TCB) were among the advancers over 2 per cent.

On the negative side, PVPower (POW), Sabeco (SAB) and FLC Faros Construction JSC (ROS) were among the losers, dropping more than 1 per cent.

“Market liquidity increased slightly, market amplitude widened and positive market breadth reflected strong domestic cash flows in the market,” said BIDV Securities Co (BSC).

“Foreign investors turned to be net buyers on the HoSE while they were net sellers on the HNX.

“With cash flow from domestic and foreign investors continuing to support the market uptrend, the VN-Index is likely to successfully retest the 1,150 points threshold in the coming sessions.

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ227.16 billion on HOSE, including  Vietinbank (CTG) with VNĐ108.4 billion, Vietcombank (VCB) with VNĐ61 billion and HDBank (HDB) with VNĐ51.8 billion. They were net sellers on the HNX with the value of VNĐ14.11 billion.

Sixteen of 25 sector indices on the stock market gained ground, including wholesale, real estate, IT, insurance, energy, healthcare, construction materials, banking, securities, agriculture and construction.

They all gained between 0.2 and 3.2 per cent.

On the opposite side, losers were retail, food and beverage, rubber production, logistics and seafood processing.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rose 1.71 per cent to close Wednesday at 211.68 points.

The index had climbed 0.9 per cent to end Tuesday at 208.13 points.

More than 148 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ2 trillion. — VNS