A branch of Vietcombank (VCB) in Hà Nội. VCB shares were up 1.76 per cent on Thursday — Photo courtesy of Vietcombank

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese markets extended gains and ended higher on Thursday, thanks largely to rises in banking stocks.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index increased 14.39 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 1,268.78 points. This marked its third day of rises.

More stocks moved to the upside on the southern bourse, of which 195 ticker symbols inched higher, while 111 finished lower.

Liquidity increased compared to the previous session, with more than 885 million shares traded on HoSE, worth nearly VNĐ22.7 trillion (US$884million).

The benchmark index was boosted by gains in large-cap stocks, with the 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index posting an increase of 1.42 per cent, to 1,308.27 points, which is the index's highest point in the last 11 months. Twenty-four stocks in the VN30 basket jumped, while four stocks slid and two stocks flat lined.

The VN30-Index, thanks to the traction of banking stocks, has surpassed its peak set in March.

Leading the market's uptrend were pillar stocks in banking industry.

Data compiled by a financial website vietstock.vn showed that Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB) was the biggest gainer on the market with shares up nearly 1.8 per cent, contributing over 2.2 points to the VN-Index gain.

It was followed by the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TCB), up 3.74 per cent, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), up 2.06 per cent and Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG), up 2.63 per cent. Notably, Lien Viet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPB) logged the biggest daily gain of 7 per cent.

Limiting the rallies, some big stocks still faced strong sell-offs, such as Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) which posted a decrease of 1.48 per cent, Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR) down 0.61 per cent and Becamex (BCM) which lost 0.85 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also finished higher on Wednesday. It rose 0.52 per cent, to 240.02 points, the eleventh consecutive positive trading session.

During the session, more than VNĐ2.1 trillion worth of shares, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 100 million shares, were traded on the northern market. — VNS