Staff at work at the Hà Nội Stock Exchange. The HNX-Index, which tracks 378 stocks, edged 0.6 per cent up to 85.5 points. It rose 0.2 per cent on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Lâm

HÀ NỘI – Shares rose yesterday on the two stock exchanges as investors pinned their hopes on prospects of positive earnings of large companies in the third quarter.

The VN-Index, a measure of 312 stocks on the HCM Stock Exchange, increased 0.4 per cent to close at 687 points. It rose 0.2 per cent on Tuesday.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index which tracks 378 stocks edged 0.6 per cent up to 85.5 points. This index rose 0.3 per cent in the previous trade.

Large-cap stocks continued to lead the market trend. Half of the 30 highest valued stocks climbed, while only one-third declined. The biggest gains were in financial stocks like lenders BIDV (BID), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH).

According to analysts at Saigon-Hanoi Securities Co, investors tend to bet on the shares of big companies with sound financial indicators, as well as those that promised good earnings in the third quarter like banks, securities and real estate companies.

On the other end of spectrum, some blue chips declined and restrained the market rise, including dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), real estate developer VinGroup (VIC) and steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG), three of the 10 biggest stocks by market value.

Especially, HPG inched down 0.8 per cent, extending five-day losses to 6.7 per cent. Heavy sells in this stock seemed to make many investors nervous and at some points negatively affected the overall market sentiment, analysts at Vietnam Investment Securities Co commented.

Liquidity was nearly unchanged with a total volume of 156.5 million shares worth a combined VNĐ2.7 trillion (US$121 million) being traded in the two markets by the end of the session.

Yesterday, truck dealer Hoàng Huy Investment Financial Services JSC (TCH) debuted 330 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange. The company’s shares rose by the maximum daily limit of 20 per cent on its first trading day to VNĐ18,000 per share with nearly 206,000 shares changing hands.

Foreign investors returned to net buyers in the two markets yesterday, ending two days of net selling trades. However, their total net buy value was small at just VNĐ6.2 billion. – VNS