Transactions at VIB. VIB rose 3.1 per cent Thursday. — Photo courtesy of the bank

 HÀ NỘI — The stock market finished higher Thursday, boosted by bargain-hunting force seen in large-cap stocks. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed the trading day at 1,068.31 points, an increase of 0.74 per cent. 

The market’s breadth returned to positive territory with more stocks recovering. Specifically, 205 ticker symbols on HoSE added points, while 162 dropped lower. 

Liquidity also improved, with trading value on the southern bourse reaching VNĐ11.7 trillion (US$499 million), equal to a trading volume of nearly 649.5 million shares. 

The index’s reversal was mainly driven by gains in some large-cap stocks as recent sharp falls stimulated some investors to increase stock proportions in their portfolios. 

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE also rose higher, up 0.82 per cent, to 1,070.76 points. 

In the VN30 basket, 20 stocks advanced while seven stocks declined and three ended flat. 

Statistics from finance website vietstock.vn showed that Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietnam International Bank (VIB) recorded the best performance yesterday and led the bullish trend. The banks' shares soared 2.4 and 3.1 per cent, respectively.

Other pillar stocks supporting the uptrend were Vietinbank (CTG), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), VPBank (VPB), FPT Corporation (FPT), Vinhomes (VHM), Hòa Phát Group (HPG), MBBank (MBB) and Masan Group (MSN).

Securities stocks like SSI Securities Corporation (SSI), VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND), Saigon-Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS), Viet Capital Incorporation (VCI), Agribank Securities Corporation (AGR), and APG Securities Joint Stock Company (APG) all attracted cash flow and bolstered the market.

Capping the recovery, persistent sell-off pressure still weighed on some blue-chip stocks, such as HDBank (HDB) losing 1 per cent, Mobile World Group (MWG) dropping 0.1 per cent, Phát Đạt Real Estate (PDR) falling 1.5 per cent, and Sabeco (SAB) losing 0.1 per cent. 

“Investors need to observe supply and demand movements at the support area, and may consider holding or exploiting short-term opportunities in stocks with good technical signals and attracting cash flow recently,” said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.07 per cent, to end at 213.01 points. 

During the trading session, nearly VNĐ1.4 trillion worth of shares, equal to nearly 105 million shares, was traded on the northern market. — VNS