Employees of VPBank conduct transactions at its office in Dã Tượng Street, Hà Nội. The lender's shares jumped 2.7 per cent on Wednesday, supporting the market's uptrend. — VNS Photo Ly Ly Cao

HÀ NỘI — The benchmark VN-Index soared to an 18-month high on Wednesday, as rising risk appetite and strong return of cash flow lifted stocks across all sectors. However, foreign investors still net sold more than VNĐ500 billion on the market.

The VN-Index climbed 25.51 points, which was its biggest daily gain since November 8, to finish the trading day at 1,270.51 points. This was also its highest close since September 6, 2022, when the index traded at 1,277.4 points.

The market's breadth remained in the positive zone with 276 stocks on the southern bourse edging up, while only 54 ticked down.

Liquidity also surged to over US$1 billion today. Of which, the trading value on HoSE increased from VNĐ20.8 trillion in the previous session to VNĐ26.29 trillion (US$1.06 billion).

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also gained more than 30 points, or 2.42 per cent, to 1,272.28 points. In the VN30 basket, 29 ticker symbols were up and only one edged down.

The banking sector led the market today as four out of the top five stocks dominating the market's rallies were in the industry.

Specifically, Vietcombank was the biggest gainer, up 1.69 per cent in market capitalisation. It was followed by FPT Corporation (FPT), VPBank (VPB), MBBank (MBB) and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB). All these stocks rose at least 2.7 per cent.

BIDV (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG), the second and third biggest stocks in market cap after VCB, also performed well, up 1.15 per cent, and 1.88 per cent, respectively.

Viettel Post JSC (VTP), which was traded on HoSE for the first time on Tuesday, continued to hit the ceiling price today.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 4.17 points, or 1.78 per cent, to 238.2 points. More than 110.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ2.27 trillion.

Foreign investors, on the other hand, were still net sellers on the market. They net sold nearly VNĐ42 billion on HNX and VNĐ460.56 billion on HoSE. — VNS