HÀ NỘI — Shares extended gains for a third session on both local exchanges on Thursday, driven by investors’ purchasing large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange added 0.53 per cent to close at 778.30 points, making three-day gains of 1.5 per cent.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched up 0.20 per cent to end at 100.76 points. The northern market index has increased by 0.4 per cent over the last three sessions.

More than 261.5 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth VNĐ4.17 trillion (US$185.2 million).

Thursday’s trading figures increased by 12.7 per cent in volume and 0.8 per cent in value from the previous session.

Shares of large-cap companies continued to perform well with 20 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation gaining.

Among 20 industries on the stock market, those that posted highest growth rates on Thursday included insurance, agriculture, banking and food and beverage sectors.

Leading stocks in those industries that rose included agriculture firms Hoàng Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG) and HAGL Agrico (HNG), Thành Thành Công Tây Ninh Sugar Co (SBT), lenders BIDV (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG) and insurance-finance group Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH).

On the opposite side, brokerages and plastic and rubber producers weighed the market down before investors scooped up stocks late.

Shares of securities companies continued to underperform, including BIDV Securities (BSI), Việt Capital Securities (VCI), HCM City Securities (HCM) and FPT Securities (FTS).

Energy stocks were a major factor pushing the market up on Wednesday but were mixed yesterday after oil prices fell.

Brent crude lost 0.8 per cent to trade at $47.37 per barrel, reversing from a two-day increase of 1.1 per cent.

Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in its daily report that the market struggled most of Thursday’s session and only moved up on investors’ late purchases of large-cap stocks.

Though having risen for three consecutive sessions, the recovery of the stock market is not steady at the moment as market trading liquidity rose slightly, SHS said.

The VN Index will have a chance to test its recovery against the level of 780 points on Friday and investors should be aware of strong selling as the benchmark approaches this level, it added. — VNS