HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares advanced yesterday as investors counted on a positive outlook for the global economy and companies’ second-quarter performance.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 1.3 per cent to finish at 640.30 points, nearly reaching the two-year high of 640.75 points of September 2014. The southern market index rallied a total 3.1 per cent in all five sessions of the week.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange bounced back 0.5 per cent to close at 85.15 points after falling slightly on Thursday.

“Investors remained upbeat during all five trading days as they eased fears over a negative impact on the world’s economy caused by Britain’s exit of the European Union,” Bảo Việt Securities Corp (BVSC) wrote in a report.

Investors also counted on central banks that are expected to further ease policies to cope with negative Brexit effects on their economies, BVSC said.

Less fears of a Brexit impact helped reduce the daily reference mid-point rate, set by Việt Nam’s central bank, by VNĐ23 in the last three days. The mid-point rate yesterday fell VNĐ8 to VNĐ21,865 for a US dollar.

Investors have been in a good mood since the beginning of the week as they expect listed companies will perform better in the second quarter of the year, BVSC added.

Higher investor confidence helped lift blue chips on the local stock exchanges, including Việt Nam Dairy Products JSC (VNM), PetroVietnam Gas Corp. (GAS), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) and property and retail firm Vingroup JSC (VIC).

VNM ended up 1.4 per cent, GAS and VIC jumped 4.8 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, and BVH gained 1.7 per cent.

In addition, better industrial production conditions signaled that the country’s industrial production was still improving.

Việt Nam’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for June is 52.6, remaining nearly flat compared to that for May, Nikkei reported.

The growth of the country’s industrial production has remained above the standard point of 50 for a fourth month, and is the strongest growth during the last year, Nikkei said.

Positive industrial production figure helped boost local producers such as steel firms Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG). HPG closed up 0.5 per cent and HSG added 1.7 per cent.

Investors on both local markets traded 166.4 million shares worth VNĐ3.37 trillion (US$145 million), an increase of nearly 13 per cent from Thursday’s trading value. — VNS