At Nhơn Trạch 1 Electric Factory. Shares of PetroVietnam Power Corporation (POW) hit a ceiling on Monday. — Photo pvpower.vn

HÀ NỘI — The market opened the new week on a positive note with many stocks witnessing gains, while liquidity decreased sharply.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the benchmark VN-Index increased by 5.75 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 1,267.68 points. This marked a day of growth following a strong decline on Friday.

The market's breadth was also positive as the number of gainers surpassed that of losers by 200 to 124. Liquidity on the southern bourse fell by 50 per cent to nearly VNĐ17.6 trillion (US$689 million), equivalent to a trading volume of 726.7 million shares.

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, the VN30-Index, climbed 1.42 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 1,284.88 points. Fourteen ticker symbols in the VN30 basket edged up, while seven inched down, and nine stocks ended flat.

Data compiled by the financial website vietstock.vn showed that PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS) was the biggest gainer on the market and led the market's trend in terms of capitalisation. Shares of the natural gas distributor rose by 2.53 per cent, contributing more than one point to the VN-Index score.

It was followed by Vietnam Rubber Group - Joint Stock Company (GVR); shares of the rubber maker rose by 2.92 per cent, also contributing more than one point to the VN-Index score. Notably, this is the third consecutive bullish trading session for this company.

Electricity industry stocks also flourished on Monday. PetroVietnam Power Corporation (POW) and Power Generation Joint Stock Corporation 3 (PGV) were the most notable; both stocks hit the ceiling, rising 6.61 per cent and 6.95 per cent, respectively.

Limiting the rallies, some big stocks still faced strong sell-offs. The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) posted a decrease of 0.61 per cent, Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDB) was down 1.65 per cent, and Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) lost 0.83 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index finished higher at 242.83 points, up 1.11 points, or 0.46 per cent. Investors poured nearly VNĐ1.4 trillion into the northern exchange, equivalent to a trading volume of 75.3 million shares.

Foreign investors increased their net selling to more than VNĐ531.8 billion on the HoSE. The vast majority of the day's net selling was concentrated in blue-chip stocks, with the VN30 basket being net sold up to VNĐ510 billion. — VNS