HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares yesterday bounced back from a gloomy trading week, driven by better investor confidence in blue chips following the re-allocation of ETFs’ investment portfolios and the energy sector was boosted by higher oil prices.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 1 per cent to finish at 657.89 points after losing 2.3 per cent in all five trading days of last week.

The HNX Index on the smaller Hà Nội Stock Exchange edged up 0.5 per cent to close at 82.74 points, ending a three-day decline of 1.8 per cent.

“The end of investment portfolio reviews by Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) late last week bolstered investor confidence during the session and increased market trading liquidity,” Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co (SHS) wrote in its daily report.

The market received strong support from some blue chips such as Vietcombank (VCB), consumer goods producer Masan Group (MSN), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH) and Sài Gòn Securities Inc (SSI) after those stocks had suffered from losing streaks last week.

VCB, MSN, BVH and SSI closed up between 3.1 per cent and 4.8 per cent at the end of the day. Those are also the large-cap stocks that have suffered from foreign selling during the ETFs’ rearrangement of their investment indexes.

A rebound in global crude prices during intraday trading yesterday also contributed to the market’s gains by lifting the energy sector, after Iran – one of the world’s top oil exporters – showed its willingness to co-operate to stabilise the oil market and increase prices.

London-traded Brent crude yesterday added 1.2 per cent to trade at US$46.32 a barrel after slumping 5.3 per cent last week.

Higher oil prices resulted in the increase of local energy stocks such as PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS), which advanced between 1.3 per cent and 4.7 per cent.

Lower foreign selling yesterday also had a positive impact on the stock market, according to Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVSC).

Though remaining as net sellers for a 14th day yesterday, net sell value by foreign investors was only VNĐ12 billion (more than $533,000) on the two local exchanges, which was a big improvement from the daily average net foreign sell value of nearly VNĐ400 billion last week.

The Vietnamese central bank yesterday raised its daily reference mid-point rate for currency trading between the đồng and the US dollar by VNĐ3 to VNĐ21,959 for a dollar.

Dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) – the largest stock by market capitalisation – remained the worst-hit by foreign selling. VNM dropped 1.4 per cent yesterday.

Reuters yesterday reported that Việt Nam’s Government sought advice from six international banks, including the Credit Suisse, for selling 10 per cent of the State’s holding in Vinamilk.

Investors yesterday traded more than 147.5 million shares worth VNĐ2.89 trillion, a slight decrease from last week’s daily trading value of VNĐ3.1 trillion. — VNS