A customer at a Sacombank branch in Hà Nội. Shares of Sacombank (STB) rose 6.1 per cent Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — A buoyant banking sector drove Vietnamese stocks higher yesterday, soothing the sentiment of sceptical traders during morning declines.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index jumped 7.59 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 1,328.05 points.

The market breadth was negative with 158 stocks climbing, while 261 stocks fell and 41 ended flat.

The liquidity was also high as local investors poured nearly VNĐ25.5 trillion into the southern market, equivalent to a trading volume of over 737.2 million shares.

Bank stocks led the market's trend yesterday. Sacombank (STB) was the biggest gainer with a rise of over 6 per cent.

It was followed by Vietinbank (CTG), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB) and Bank for Investment and Development (BID), rising over 3 per cent. HDB also moved up 2.9 per cent.

Many other bank stocks also jumped more than 1 per cent such as VPBank (VPB), MBBank (MBB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB).

Gains in large-cap stocks were also the main driving force for the market's rally. The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, settled 1.1 per cent higher to finish yesterday at 1,474.78 points.

Of the VN30 basket, 14 stocks increased while 16 dropped.

Hòa Phát Group (HPG) was the most notable gainer in the group as it hit the daily limit rise of 7 per cent yesterday.

Hoa Sen Group (HSG) also soared by 6 per cent. Positive information from business results in April may have helped boost HSG's stock prices. Its sale volume was estimated at 216,390 tonnes. Revenue is estimated at VNĐ4.55 trillion, up 104 per cent over the same period last year. HSG's post-tax profit was estimated at VNĐ538 billion, up 498 per cent.

“Investment money flowed into the market. Meanwhile, the trend of net buying of foreign investors declined on HoSE. However, strong increase in market liquidity along with positive market breadth is supporting the uptrend of the market,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“VN-Index is likely to move in the range of 1,320-1,350 points in the next sessions.”

Foreign investors net bought VNĐ7.21 trillion on HOSE, including Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) (VNĐ148 billion), Masan Group (MSN) (VNĐ57.2 billion) and SSI Securities Co (SSI) (VNĐ54.5 billion). Foreign investors were net buyers on HNX with a value of VNĐ11.32 billion

On Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 2.38 per cent to close yesterday at 317.85 points.

During the session, nearly 188.6 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth over VNĐ4.5 trillion. — VNS