An investor at Bảo Việt Securities Co's trading floor in Hà Nội. The VN-Index inched up 0.2 per cent yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — Shares bounced back slightly on Wednesday after a brief fall in the previous session, driven by growth of banks, while realty stocks continued to slide following negative news of big property firms.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index edged up 0.19 per cent to close at 1.522.90 points. It decreased 0.3 per cent on Tuesday after a three-day rally.

Banks were the main driving force as this sector contributed nearly seven points to the VN-Index’s growth while the property sector took 4.7 points.

Sixteen out of 17 listed lenders on the southern bourse gained value, of which Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB) was the biggest gainer, up 4.3 per cent. Big banks such as Vietcombank (VCB), BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB) and Military Bank (MBB) increased between 0.5-2.1 per cent.

The market capitalisation of the banking industry accounted for a large part of the VN-Index basket so this index still concluded the session in the green despite the number of declining stocks outnumbering gaining ones by 285-174.

Other blue chips performed well as 20 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity increased. On the dark side, half of losers were realty firms including Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM), No Va Land Investment Group (NVL), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Khang Điền House Trading and Investment (KDH).

Bad news is clinging to this industry group. On Tuesday evening, the Police Investigation Agency arrested another sister of former FLC Group CEO Trịnh Văn Quyết. Shares of FLC continued to slide on Wednesday, down 7 per cent to VNĐ10,600 a share. FLC's value fell more than 27 per cent since its CEO was arrested in late March.

However, bargain hunters also pushed up the market liquidity. More than 944 million shares worth VNĐ30 trillion (US$1.3 billion) were traded, up 34 per cent in volume and 38 per cent in value compared to the previous session.

According to analysts at MB Securities Co, the market may still approach or even surpass the historical peak of 1,530 points for the VN-Index. Cash flow will differ when companies release their first quarter business result and investors should focus on basic stocks that have accumulated in recent times.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slipped for a second day, losing 2.03 per cent to end at 446.83 points. The northern bourse’s index decreased 0.6 per cent on Tuesday.

Liquidity also climbed here with 117 million shares worth VNĐ3.8 trillion being traded, up 25 per cent in volume and 31 per cent in value against Tuesday’s levels.

Foreign traders were net buyers on HCM City’s exchange for a value of VNĐ109 billion but continued to be net sellers on Hà Nội’s bourse for a net value of VNĐ29 billion. — VNS