HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares continued to rise yesterday, driven by large-cap stocks while investor confidence in local companies was bolstered by good prospects of higher quarterly performances.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange added 1.2 per cent to close at the fresh eight-year high of 684.89 points. The southern market index has rallied 5.2 per cent in the last seven sessions.

The HNX Index on the smaller Hà Nội Stock Exchange rebounded 0.5 per cent from Monday’s fall to finish at 83.48 points.

“Large-cap stocks remained the major force that pushed the market up yesterday,” Bảo Việt Securities Corp (BVSC) wrote in its daily report.

Two-thirds of the 30 largest listed firms by market capitalisation and trading liquidity advanced, while there were seven decliners.

The 20 advancing stocks included six of the top 10 companies on the stock market, such as insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), real estate firm Vingroup JSC (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BIDV).

BVH jumped 3.5 per cent, VIC rose 2.8 per cent, VCB was up 2.7 per cent, CTG increased by 1.5 per cent and BID surged 5.3 per cent.

Local energy firms, including PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) had a positive day after crude prices bounced back to close higher on Monday.

US crude West Texas Intermediate on Monday jumped 3.3 per cent to close at nearly US$46 a barrel on expectations of a production freeze at today’s oil exporters’ meeting in Algeria.

“The Algeria meeting will bring positive news to the stock market,” BVSC said. “The oil price may exceed the current level to test the range of $50-$52 a barrel.”

Construction material producers also made good gains, among them stone maker Bình Dương Mineral and Construction JSC (KSB), steel producers Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG), and plastic companies Bình Minh Plastic JSC (BMP) and Tiền Phong Plastic JSC (NTP).

Among those stocks, HSG had the lowest growth rate of 0.4 per cent, and BMP had the highest - 1.7 per cent. “Investor confidence in these companies has been rising on expectations for their higher performances in the last three months,” BIDV Securities Corp said.

More than 168 million shares were exchanged on the two exchanges, worth nearly VNĐ3.1 trillion ($137.5 million), a drop of more than 30 per cent from Monday. — VNS