Becamex Hotel New City in Bình Dương Province. Becamex shares led the market on Monday. — Photo courtesy of Becamex

HÀ NỘI — The market opened the new week on a positive note, with a number of stocks posting gains and with liquidity soaring.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index increased 4.47 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 1,277.58 points. This marked its fifth day of rises.

Throughout most of the day, the VN-Index traded above the reference level, maintaining a relatively stable range and closing the session higher.

More stocks moved to the upside on the southern bourse, of which 196 ticker symbols inched higher, while 123 finished lower.

Liquidity increased compared to the previous session, with more than 1.1 billion shares traded on HoSE, worth nearly VNĐ27.7 trillion (US$1.1 billion).

The benchmark index was boosted by gains in large-cap stocks, with the 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index posting an increase of 0.18 per cent, to 1,312.55 points. Eighteen stocks in the VN30 basket jumped, while ten stocks slid and two stocks flat lined.

Data compiled by a financial website vietstock.vn showed that Becamex (BCM) was the biggest gainer on the market and led the market's trend in terms of capitalisation, which contributed more than one point to the VN-Index score. Shares of the investment and industrial development corporation hit the ceiling, up 6.97 per cent. Hòa Phát group JSC (HPG) shares were up 1.27 per cent.

Banking stocks were also notable risers on Monday. Led by Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) with shares, up 2.06 per cent, followed by Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDB) shares, up 2.26 per cent and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) shares, up 0.51 per cent.

Limiting the rallies, some big stocks still faced strong sell-offs, such as FPT Corporation (FPT) which posted a decline of 1.12 per cent, Vinhomes JSC (VHM) down 0.98 per cent and Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (VJC) which lost 2.39 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also finished higher on Monday. It rose 0.43 per cent, to 242.57 points, the thirteenth consecutive positive trading session.

During the session, more than VNĐ2.1 trillion worth of shares, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 110 million shares, were moved on the northern market.

Foreign investors' selling pressure has shown signs of increasing again in the last two weeks. According to numbers on the HoSE, since the beginning of May the total value of net withdrawal capital of foreign investors amounted to VNĐ6.4 trillion, of which net selling of shares was VNĐ5.7 trillion. — VNS