The front of Vinhomes' Skylake project in Nam Từ Liêm District, Hà Nội. The property developer's shares rose 5.56 per cent yesterday, boosting the market's bullish sentiment. Photo vietnamnet.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares inched higher in the last session of the week, with the VN-Index continuing to set a new peak.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stocks Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index rose 6.26 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 1,444.27 points, marking the highest level since the market was founded. The index gained for the fourth session and consecutively broke new record highs. 

The market's breadth was negative, while the liquidity was higher than yesterday. Accordingly, over 981.8 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth more than VNĐ28.87 trillion (US$1.3 billion).

The benchmark struggled as selling pressure rose in the late morning, causing many large-cap stocks to fall. However rallies extended in the afternoon session as risk appetite improved, outweighing selling force and helping big stocks to tick higher. 

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, increased 3.09 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 1,532.35 points. Of the VN30 basket, 13 stocks climbed, while 16 declined and one ended flat. 

The benchmark's uptrend was mostly driven by pillar stocks in real estate and banking. Data compiled by vietstock.vn showed that Vinhomes (VHM) led the gaining group, with an increase of 5.56 per cent. 

Other large-cap stocks like BIDV (BID), Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), Vingroup (VIC) and Novaland (NVL) also supported the market's bullish sentiment. BID shares and ACB shares posted rises of more than 3.6 per cent, while VIC shares were up 0.84 per cent and NVL shares climbed nearly 1.4 per cent. 

However, the selling force was still lingering, curbing the benchmark gains. Hòa Phát Group (HPG) lost the most, down  1.55 per cent yesterday. Other stocks with big losses included Sabeco (SAB), down 2.49 per cent, and VPBank (VPB), down 1.42 per cent. 

Analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that technically, the market is still in the fifth impulse wave of the Elliott model, with a theoretical target of around 1,550 points. 

However, there will be some corrections during the upward path due to rising profit-taking activities, SHS added. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also edged higher, with a rise of 1.05 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 412.12 points. 

During the session, investors poured nearly VNĐ3.5 trillion into the northern market, equivalent to a trading volume of over 153.8 million shares. 

On the other hand, foreign investors continued to net buy on the market, with a total value of VNĐ25.63 billion. Of which, they net bought a value of VNĐ61.77 billion on HoSE, while net sold a value of VNĐ36.14 billion on HNX. VNS