BIDV's building in Hoàn Kiếm District, Hà Nội. The lender's shares soared nearly 5 per cent on Friday, leading the market's bullish trend. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese stock market was mixed on Friday, with the VN-Index increasing to the four-month high thanks to banking stocks while foreign investors net bought for the seventh session in a row. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) climbed 12.44 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 1,181.5 points - its highest close in four months. This was its second straight rally day. 

Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that if the index forms a new uptrend, the short-term resistance thresholds will be 1,080 - 1,200 points and the next resistance level is 1,250 points.

On the southern bourse, the breadth was positive with 170 stocks increasing while 136 ticker symbols inched down. 

Liquidity improved but remained at low levels. In particular, the trading value increased to nearly VNĐ14.8 trillion (US$602.7 million) from VNĐ13.2 trillion of the previous session. 

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, rose 11.32 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 1,185.23 points. Up to 27 stocks finished higher while three decreased. 

Banking stocks were pillars of the market, with most stocks in the industry performing well. BIDV (BID) was the market's leader, with gain of 4.95 per cent. 

Other banking stocks that witnessed strong rallies were Vietinbank (CTG), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank, Vietcombank (VCB), Sacombank (STB), MBBank (MBB), Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB). All the stocks soared at least 1 per cent on Friday. 

Also supporting the market, PV Gas (GAS) soared 1.86 per cent, Masan Group (MSN) climbed 2.11 per cent, Vinamilk (VNM) increased 0.89 per cent and Vincom Retail (VRE) rose 1.27 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index reversed course and finished lower on Friday. The index declined 0.45 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 229.48 points. 

During the session, more than 61 million shares were traded on HNX, worth over VNĐ1.1 trillion. 

Meanwhile, the market witnessed an inflow of foreign capital as foreign investors net bought a value of VNĐ152.54 billion on the market. Particularly, they net bought a VNĐ179.11 billion on HoSE but net sold a value of VNĐ26.57 billion on HNX. VNS