HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares advanced slightly yesterday after a volatile trading week, driven by investor expectations of positive third-quarter earnings reports.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.3 per cent to close at 687 points, marking a slight gain of 0.4 per cent from the previous week.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched up 0.1 per cent to end at 85.45 points, totaling a week-on-week increase of 0.2 per cent.

Investors remained confident, especially in mid-cap stocks, expecting positive third-quarter earnings.

Real estate companies were among strong gainers, including Hoàng Anh Gia Lai JSC (HAG), An Dương Thảo Điền Real Estate Trading Investment JSC (HAR) and Vinaconex Investment and Tourism Development JSC (VCR).

HAG and HAR surged 6.8 per cent each with nearly 5.6 million and 3.5 million shares traded, respectively, while VCR jumped 3.4 per cent.

Companies in the consumption goods industry, like dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), Masan Group (MSN), Biên Hòa Sugar JSC (BHS) and livestock feed and seed producer Dabaco Group (DBC) also had a good trading day.

VNM rose 1.4 per cent for a rally of 2.8 per cent in the last four trading days, MSN added 0.3 per cent after a series of gloomy sessions, BHS bounced back 0.3 per cent from Thursday’s fall, and DBC advanced 0.5 per cent to a 1.3 per cent four-day surge.

The plastic industry was lifted by largest producers in the stock market, Bình Minh Plastic JSC (BMP), Tiền Phong Plastic JSC (NTP) and Đồng Nai Plastic Construction JSC (DNP). The shares of these firms went up by between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent.

On the negative side, there were mixed performances by the energy and finance-banking sectors yesterday.

The finance-banking sector was boosted by the Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), Sacombank (STB) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB), which rose in the range of 0.1 per cent and 4.1 per cent.

Energy producers like PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corp (PVD) declined, although crude prices increased for a second day.

US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1.1 per cent yesterday to be traded at US$51 a barrel and the London-traded Brent crude edged up 0.7 per cent to be traded at $52.39 a barrel.

More than 217.8 million shares worth nearly VNĐ3.9 trillion ($173.3 million) were traded in the two local exchanges yesterday, an increase of nearly 53 per cent over Thursday’s trading value. — VNS