A client at Sacombank (STB)'s office. STB rose 2 per cent yesterday. Photo courtesy of Sacombank

HÀ NỘI — Despite choppy trading throughout the day, the VN-Index ended the day higher on Thursday.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.61 per cent to close at 1,125.30 points. It had gained 0.57 per cent to close Wednesday at 1,111.72 points.

Traders moved more than 919.3 million shares worth VNĐ19.6 trillion (US$833.3 million) on the southern bourse.

Market breadth was positive, with 314 gainers and 114 losers.

The HoSE's large-cap tracker VN30-Index also edged higher, closing at 1,117.60 points, up 0.5 per cent. Nineteen of the 30 largest stocks rose, while 8 stocks lost points and three ended unchanged.

“Liquidity increased, showing an effort to support and maintain the uptrend of cash flow. With existing support signals, it is expected that the market will seek to retest the resistance zone of 1,125 to 1,130 points of the VN-Index,” said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

“The supply in this area may cause difficulties for the market, but the possibility of overcoming this resistance zone is not excluded in the near future. Therefore, investors can expect the market to increase in the short term.”

“In the meantime, it is possible to hold or exploit short-term opportunities in stocks with good accumulation backgrounds. However, it is still necessary to consider taking profits for stocks that have been under great supply pressure and have weakened recently,” it said.

Banks and energy firms were the major stocks that helped push the market up yesterday.

Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB), and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) were the strongest gainers in the banking sector. These stocks advanced between 0.4 per cent and 2 per cent.

However, some banks still suffered selling pressure such as VPBank (VPB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB).

Energy stocks, including PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Service Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS), also rebounded.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange edged up 0.06 per cent to end at 231.91 points.

Nearly 107.2 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ18.6 billion. — VNS