Galvanised iron products at Hòa Phát's factory in Hưng Yên Province. Shares of the company rose 5.8 per cent yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares climbed for a third day this week and five sessions in a row, buoyed by blue chips again.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index added over 16 points, or 1.58 per cent, to close Wednesday at 1,048.42 points. The southern bourse’s index has gained nearly 11 per cent since November 23.

The market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers by 355-122. Another 152 closed flat.

Blue chips led the market uptrend. 25 out of the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity gained value and only five lost.

Property giant Vinhomes (VHM), steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Vietcombank (VCB) were the biggest contributors to the VN-Index, up 2.6 per cent, 5.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Construction material companies and insurers performed well. In addition to HPG, other companies including Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Nam Kim Group (NKG) and Sông Hồng Aluminum Shalumi Group increased between 1.4 per cent and 3.2 per cent.

Biggest gainers in the insurance sector were PVI Reinsurance (PRE), Military Insurance (MIG), BIDV Insurance (BIC) and Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) with growth of between 2.7 per cent and 5.7 per cent.

“The rally has yet to end,” said Phương Nguyễn, a stock analyst at Viet Dragon Securities Co.

Phương said despite the strong volatility during the session, the market continued to gain momentum with high liquidity, showing rising short-term profit-taking pressure yet the supportive cash flow was still surpassed.

More than 1.1 billion shares worth VNĐ17.8 trillion (US$718 million) were traded in the southern market on Wednesday. This was the second day the trading volume exceeded one billion shares.

“With the maintained upward momentum, it is likely that the market will continue to be active when entering the next session. The next challenging zone is around 1,040 – 1,050 points of VN-Index, profit-taking pressure is expected to increase strongly in this area and continue to put pressure on the market,” Phương said in a note.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also rose for a third day, extending the rally to five days in a row. It ended up 0.3 per cent at 208.79 points on Wednesday, and a cumulative 9.3 per cent in the last five sessions.

Trading value surpassed VNĐ1 trillion for a second day, with 88.5 million shares worth VNĐ1.1 trillion.

Foreign traders maintained net buying on both exchanges, focusing on HCM City’s market with a net buy value of nearly VNĐ1.7 trillion. Their net buy value on the Hà Nội bourse was nearly VNĐ49 billion. — VNS