Inside a warehouse of Hòa Phát Group. Shares of the steel producer jumped nearly 4.26 per cent yesterday, supporting the market's bullish sentiment. VNA/VNS Photo Vũ Sinh

HÀ NỘI — Indices reversed course to finish higher on Monday, thanks to bottom-fishing demand. However, gains were capped by lingering selling force. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed the day at 1,042.48 points, an increase of 6.57 points, or 0.63 per cent. It continued falling deeply at the beginning of the afternoon trade, but some bargain-hunting activities helped lift the benchmark index. 

The market's sentiment was more bullish with more stocks increasing, of which 208 stocks inched higher and 124 reduced. However, liquidity remained at a low level as matching value on the southern market decreased by 38.6 per cent to VNĐ9.8 trillion (US$412.6 million), equal to a matching volume of 542 million shares.

The index's reversal was boosted by some pillar stocks as the 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index still posted a loss of 0.61 points, or 0.06 per cent, to finish Monday at 1,038.93 points. Of the VN30 basket, 17 stocks climbed, while ten declined with one hitting floor price. And three stocks ended flat. 

In the top five stocks leading the uptrend, PV Gas (GAS) was the biggest gainer with a gain of 3.92 per cent. It was followed by Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), BIDV (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG). These stocks all rose at least 2.7 per cent.

Big stocks in other appealing industries also supported the rally, such as Vinanilk (VNM) up 1 per cent, Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) inched up 1.81 per cent, while Đức Giang Chemicals Group (DGC) Petrovietnam Fertiliser & Chemicals Corporation (DPM) and PetroVietnam Cà Mau Fertiliser (DCM) even registered a maximum daily gain of 7 per cent. 

However, persistent sell-off pressure kept a lid on the gain. Banking, manufacturing, real estate and transportation were sectors that faced great losses. Vietcombank (VCB) led the downside, with a 2.4 per cent decrease in market capitalisation on Monday. Novaland (NVL), Techombank (TCB), Sabeco (SAB), TPBank (TPB), Masan Group (MSN) and Vietjet Aviation (VJC) also saw poor performance. 

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) also ended higher after sliding for two consecutive sessions. Accordingly, the northern market benchmark jumped 3.76 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 229.85 points. 

Foreign investors also took advantage of the recent bearish trend, with a total cash inflow worth VNĐ619.36 billion. Of which, they net bought VNĐ578.86 billion on HoSE and VNĐ40.5 billion on HNX. VNS