Transactions conducted at the headquarters of Vietcombank. The lender's shares logged the biggest intra-day gain of 7 per cent on Wednesday, leading the benchmark's rallies. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Benchmark indices ended mixed on Wednesday, with the VN-Index rising for the third straight day in a row to its highest in 16 months, while liquidity remained at a high level.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) increased 17.09 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 1,254.55 points. This was the highest close since September 6, 2022, when the index traded at 1,277.4 points.

It had gained 42.55 points in the last three sessions.

With the benchmark surpassing the important resistance level of 1,250 points, Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that short-term investors should not buy stocks during upward sessions.

“Instead, they should consider gradually taking profits on stocks that have already achieved their targets in the current phase. This is because there is a high risk of short-term downturns,” said SHS.

On the bourse, 169 stocks ticked up while 155 went down. Liquidity remained above VNĐ20 trillion but declined slightly from the previous session. In particular, the trading value reached nearly VNĐ22.7 trillion (US$921.2 million), equal to a trading volume of nearly 970.8 million shares.

The index’s recent rallies were mainly driven by gains in large-cap stocks.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, increased by 17.44 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 1,265.35 points.

In the VN30 basket, 25 ticker symbols advanced, with one hitting the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent, while two decreased and three stayed flat.

Vietcombank (VCB), one of the Big 4 state-owned commercial banks, soared to the ceiling price today and led the market’s bullish sentiment.

Other banking stocks witnessing strong performances were BIDV (BID), VPBank (VPB), TPBank (TPB), Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) and HDBank (HDB), up 1.45-4.44 per cent.

Some pillar stocks in the real estate and manufacturing industries were also market contributors, as Vincom Retail (VRE) surged 5.3 per cent, Vingroup (VIC) rose 1 per cent, Sabeco (SAB) climbed 2.5 per cent, and Masan Group (MSN) increased 1.04 per cent.

In contrast, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) ended the two-day rallies. It closed Wednesday at 235.16 points, down 0.21 points, or 0.09 per cent.

During the session, over 96.5 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ1.93 trillion.

Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on the market, as they net bought VNĐ210.81 billion on the two main exchanges. Particularly, they net bought VNĐ221.37 billion on HoSE but net sold a small amount of VNĐ10.56 billion on HNX. — VNS