HÀ NỘI – Shares advanced during the first session on Wednesday after the National Reunification and International Labour holidays as investors remained positive about the market outlook.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged up 0.25 per cent to close at 719.54, the highest level since April 14. The southern market index has expanded 1.7 per cent in the last four sessions.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.32 per cent to end at 89.82 points, lifting the growth of the last four sessions to over 2.2 per cent.

Financial stocks like banks, insurers and securities companies were among the major movers. They included Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), Vietcombank (VCB), Sacombank (STB), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM Securities Corp (HCM).

The securities sector recorded average growth of 1.64 per cent, followed by the banking group with a rise of 1.3 per cent and the insurance sector up 0.73 per cent, vietstock.vn revealed.

Large-cap stocks saw big divergence with 16 of the largest 30 shares by market value and liquidity on the HCM City’s bourse rising while 11 declined.

Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp (REE) was the biggest gainer with a maximum daily rise of nearly 7 per cent, settling at VNĐ29,750 (US$1.31) a share.

On the other side, oil and gas stocks slumped along with global oil.

Major listed energy shares such as PV Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drillings and Well Service (PVD), PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC) and PetroVietnam Technical Service (PVS) declined, with PVD dropping to the floor price of VNĐ16,500 a share.

Global oil prices were under pressure on rising crude output on Libya and the US. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 1.28 per cent to $48.70 per barrel and Brent were down 1.31 per cent at $51.37 on Tuesday.

The popular saying “sell in May and go away” may not apply to the Vietnamese stock market. Statistics showed that the VN-Index has increased in May in the last four years since 2013, except 2014 due to negative impacts from an incident in the East Sea (South China Sea).

However, analysts from BIDV Securities Joint Stock Company warned of a possible downward movement with the VN-Index approaching the resistance level of 720 points given large divergence of major large caps.

Liquidity increased with total trading volume reaching 278.5 million shares worth a combined VNĐ5.2 trillion ($229.1 million) in the two markets, up 29.3 per cent in volume and 23.8 per cent in value compared to daily average figures of last week.

Foreign investors were net sellers in HCM City’s market on Wednesday for a net value of VNĐ263 billion while they picked up shares worth a net value of VNĐ1.4 billion on the Hà Nội bourse. – VNS