Bankers and customers wearing masks during transactions at one of Techcombank's offices. The bank shares jumped more than 2.4 per cent yesterday, supporting the market's uptrend. Photo courtesy of Techcombank

HÀ NỘI — The market inched higher on Wednesday, extended rallies as investors’ risk appetite improved in the late session, boosting many large-cap stocks to move higher. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index rose 8.19 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 1,362.82 points. The market’s breadth was positive with 274 stocks climbing, while 129 stocks declined. 

However, the liquidity remained low as investors poured VNĐ19.4 trillion (US$851 million), equivalent to nearly 637 million shares.

The index gained for the third day in a row on large-cap stocks. The 30 biggest stocks tracker, the VN30-Index, increased 5.51 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 1,461.72 points. In the VN30 basket, 16 stocks jumped, while 10 stocks slid and four ended flat. 

Oil and gas stocks continued to perform well on the back of surging oil prices, with PetroVietnam Gas JSC (Gas) leading the market’s uptrend. The company stocks increased 4.13 per cent to VNĐ113,500 per share.

Other pillar stocks contributing to the gain were Vinhomes (VHM), Techcombank (TCB), Hoà Phát Group (HPG) and Vincom Retail (VRE). These stocks posted gains of at least 1.3 per cent.

However, some large-cap stocks were still under pressure. Of which, VPBank (VPB) was the biggest loser, down 1.6 per cent. 

Analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that on the technical front, the close of the above psychological level of 1,350 points means the VN-Index is likely to head toward the next target of resistance zone of 1,375 - 1,380 points. 

SHS recommended that investors with high stock proportion can continue holding with the expectation that the market will successfully break over the resistance level. Meanwhile, investors with a large amount of cash can switch to the wait-and-see mode, waiting for clearer signs to join the market. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also closed higher yesterday, with a gain of 1.97 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 368.47 points. 

During the session, more than 101.9 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ2.2 trillion. 

On the other hand, foreign investors were net sellers on both two main exchanges with a total value of VNĐ537.22 billion. Of which, they net sold a value of VNĐ531.45 billion on HoSE, and a value of VNĐ5.77 billion on HNX. — VNS