Almaz conference centre in Vinhomes Riverside, Hà Nội. Vinhomes (VHM) topped the list of stocks pulling the VN-Index most on Friday. — VNS Photo Mai Hương

HÀ NỘI — The VN-Index closed at a one-month high in the first quarter’s last trading session, supported by strong buys of both domestic and foreign traders.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index ended up 0.49 per cent at 1,064.64 points, extending its rally streak to nine consecutive sessions.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange increased for a second day, up 0.75 per cent to close at 207.5 points. It inched up 0.2 per cent on Thursday.

Liquidity in the afternoon session grew by 57 per cent compared to the morning, totaling 723.5 million shares worth VNĐ13 trillion (US$552 million), the highest in more than a month.

According to analysts, a long gaining streak showed investors’ expectations near the closing time of the net asset value of funds, pushing up many stocks. On average, this week saw the best liquidity in the past five weeks. However, cash flow from foreign investors decreased, meaning domestic investors increased their transactions which was a positive signal.

Foreign traders returned to net buyers on both exchanges on Friday, responsible for a net value of nearly VNĐ168 billion, focusing on blue chips such as Hòa Phát Group (HPG, VNĐ90 billion), Vinhomes (VHM, VNĐ72 billion) and Vingroup (VIC, VNĐ60 billion).

This was a strong force to push up these share prices. Except for HPG, VHM rose 3.9 per cent and VIC gained 2.4 per cent.

Although the top 10 stocks that pulled the VN-Index most were largely in the VN30 basket (which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity), many stocks in this basket lost value, including Vietcombank (VCB), Masan Group (MSN), Vinamilk (VNM) and Vincom Retail (VRE) with decreases of 0.8 per cent to 1.8 per cent each.

According to Việt Dragon Securities Co, although there was a cautious state after the supply pressure from the resistance area of 1,060 points of the VN-Index, the decrease level during the session was quite limited. Therefore, the market is still likely to gain in the next session to retest supply and demand at the resistance zone of 1,060 – 1,065 points.

“However, it is still necessary to watch out for supply pressure at the resistance zone,” said Phương Nguyễn, a market analyst at Việt Dragon Securities Co, in a note.

Phương suggested that investors observe the supply and demand movements at the resistance zone to assess the market's state, temporarily keep a reasonable proportion of the portfolio and need to be wary of pressure from the resistance zone. — VNS