Shares rose yesterday as traders continued to focus on large-cap stocks on expectations of a longer rally. — Photo cafef.vn

HÀ NỘI – Shares rose yesterday as traders continued to focus on large-cap stocks on expectations of a longer rally.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange was up 0.31 per cent to close at 778.88 points.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 1.20 per cent to end at 100.33 points.

Financial stocks were the market’s driving force with securities firms seeing an average growth of 2.5 per cent and bank stocks rising 1.1 per cent on average, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Six of nine listed banks on the two exchanges advanced, of which the three biggest listed lenders, Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID), went up 1 per cent, 2 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Three smaller banks on the northern market, including Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB) and Nam Việt Bank (NVB) increased between 1.9-5.3 per cent.

Big brokerage firms such as Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), HCM Securities (HCM), BIDV Securities (BSC), VNDirect Securities (VND), FPT Securities (FTS), Vietinbank Securities (CTS) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) leapt between 1-6.4 per cent.

Other large-cap gainers included PV Gas (GAS), Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), brewer Sabeco (SAB), steelmakers Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service (PVD).

On the defensive side, rising profit-taking selling pressure pushed down Vinamilk (VNM), VinGroup (VIC), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG), DHG Pharmaceutical (DHG) and FPT Corp (FPT).

“The market maintained its uptrend after suffering volatility around 760 for the VN30. However, we still forecast a short-term decline in this zone,” Trần Hải Yến, a stock analyst at Bảo Việt Securities Co wrote in a report yesterday.

The key VN-Index gained 1 per cent last week and has expanded 5.2 per cent last month.

Yến suggested investors take advantage of rally sessions to partially sell short-term positions, especially stocks which have dramatically risen.

A total of 265.4 million shares worth a combined VNĐ4.6 trillion (US$202.6 million) were traded on the two markets, almost unchanged compared to last week’s figures.

Foreign traders continued to comb local shares on the HCM Stock Exchange, picking up a net buy value of VNĐ92.2 billion, marking an 11th consecutive net buying session. They were net sellers in Hà Nội’s market, however, for a modest value of VNĐ14 billion. – VNS