HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares advanced yesterday as the oil sector was boosted by a positive trend in global oil prices.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 1.3 per cent to finish at 637.34 points, extending a gain of 1.6 per cent for a second day.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange rebounded 0.8 per cent from a six-day slide of 3.2 per cent to close at 81.67 points.

The oil sector yesterday led the gainers as oil prices did well to bounce back from intraday-trading lows.

US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was traded at US$43 a barrel, up very slightly from Monday’s closing price of $42.99 a barrel, after having fallen 1.1 per cent during the session.

London-traded Brent crude managed to climb back and stood at $45.32 a barrel, down 0.2 per cent from Monday’s closing price of $45.39 a barrel.

Large-cap oil stocks advancing such as PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) made gains.

GAS added 1.7 per cent, PVD jumped 3.6 per cent and PVS surged 6.7 per cent.

Other leading industries such as insurance firms, property developers and food and beverage producers also improved.

Leading stocks in those sectors helped lift the market as usual, including insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), property and retail corp Vingroup JSC (VIC), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) and consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN).

BVH and MSN each increased by 1.7 per cent, VIC was up 1.8 per cent and VNM advanced 2.5 per cent.

Hoàng Anh Gia Lai JSC (HAG) and its subsidiary Hoàng Anh Gia Lai International Agriculture JSC (HNG) surged 5.7 per cent and 5.3 per cent after the two firms announced schedules to organise annual shareholders’ meetings in mid-September, local media reported.

On the other side, Dream House Investment Corp (DRH) and Trường Thành Furniture Corp (TTF) continued to sink following negative news about their business.

DRH and TTF plunged 6.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent, respectively, totalling eight-day and 16-day plummets of 38 per cent and 68 per cent.

Better investor sentiment helped boost trading liquidity compared to Monday, however, “investors were still waiting for positive signals of the market”, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Corp wrote in its daily report.

More than 132 million shares were exchanged across the board, worth nearly VNĐ2.5 trillion ($110.5 million), an increase of one-third from Monday’s trading value. — VNS