A Vietcombank employee talking to a customer. The bank's shares rose sharply yesterday, supporting the market's bullish trend. Photo courtesy of Vietcombank

HÀ NỘI — Shares finished mixed on Tuesday, with the market benchmark ending two-day losses on bottom fishing demand. 

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index reversed the downtrend to inch higher. Of which, the index gained 8.59 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 1,279.39 points. 

The market's breadth returned to a positive zone with more stocks adding points, while liquidity fell significantly compared to the previous session. On the southern bourse, matching value declined by 35.1 per cent to more than VNĐ12.2 trillion (US$521.5 million), equivalent to a matching volume of 474 million shares. 

The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index also bounced back from recent losses, with a rise of 4.89 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 1,298.14 points. In the VN30 basket, 18 stocks increased, of which one stock hit the ceiling price, while eight stocks inched lower. And four stocks finished flat. 

The benchmark's reversal was thanks to demand for bargains after the index fell for two consecutive sessions. Many stocks in attractive sectors, including banking and manufacturing, posted strong performance. 

Vietcombank (VCB) was the bullish trend leader on Tuesday, with an increase of 4.24 per cent. It was followed by Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG) and Masan Group (MSN), up in a range of 1.34-6.81 per cent.

Other stocks supporting the rally were Vinhomes (VHM), VPBank (VPB), MBBank (MBB), Đức Giang Chemicals Group (DGC) and Techcombank (TCB).

"The VN-Index continues to accumulate in a zone of 1,260-1,285 points. And it is expected to retest a range of 1,275-1,277 points, and return to the territory of 1,285-1,290 points," said Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC.

However, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) extended the bearish trend, falling for three straight sessions. Specifically, the HNX-Index lost 1.68 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 293.86 points. 

On the other hand, foreign investors continued to net sell on HoSE with a net value of VNĐ14.4 billion, while they net bought a small amount of VNĐ1.97 billion on the northern market. VNS