A member of staff and a customer at a Vietcombank branch. — Photo nld.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices finished higher on Friday as investors' confidence in bank stocks improved. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index inched up 7.59 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 1,472.89 points. The benchmark had lost over 57 points in the first two sessions of the week due to strong sell-offs. 

However, the market's breadth was still negative with 235 stocks declining, while 226 stocks increased. Liquidity, meanwhile, improved as more than 811.3 million shares were traded on HoSE, worth nearly VNĐ23 trillion (US$1 billion). 

The index's uptrend was driven by large-cap stocks, especially bank stocks. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index posted a gain of 9.35 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 1,502.16 points. 

Sixteen stocks in the VN30 basket rose, while 14 slid. 

Vietcombank (VCB) was the biggest gainer in the last trading session of the week, up 2.41 per cent, leading the rally trend.

Many other bank stocks also witnessed strong performance, supporting the general bullish sentiment. Notably, MBBank (MBB) was up 5.3 per cent, Techcombank (TCB) up 1.94 per cent, BIDV (BID) up nearly 1.4 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) up 1.3 per cent, and VPBank (VPB) up more than 1 per cent. 

Some realty stocks saw big gains on Friday, including Vinhomes (VHM) up 1.02 per cent and Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG) up 7 per cent, the biggest intraday gain.

The gain was limited by losses in some pillar stocks such as Hòa Phát Group (HPG), down nearly 1.6 per cent, Sabeco (SAB), down 1.33 per cent, and PV Gas (GAS), down 1.1 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index climbed 6.04 points on Friday, or 1.47 per cent, to 417.84 points. The index lost nearly 58 points in the first three sessions of the week.

During the session, investors poured over VNĐ2.3 billion into the market, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 90.2 million shares. 

Analysts from MB Securities Company (MBS) said that the market's recovery is likely to continue as more and more listed companies release the fourth-quarter results. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors net sold a huge amount of over VNĐ1.1 trillion on HoSE, while net bought a value of VNĐ20.64 billion on HNX. — VNS