HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s benchmark VN Index advanced yesterday from a two-day decline as investors were attracted to cheaper stocks after the market’s recent drops.

The HCM Stock Exchange’s index gained 0.62 per cent to close at 765.98 points after having fallen a total 1 per cent in the previous two sessions.

More than 158.5 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ2.76 trillion (nearly US$123 million).

Wednesday’s trading figures were up 2.9 per cent in volume and down 4.5 per cent in value compared to Tuesday’s numbers.

Market trading condition was quite positive as the number of gaining stocks was balances with that of declining ones.

Large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket also performed well. Eighteen of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation in the basket made gains, bringing the VN30 Index up 0.6 per cent.

The biggest gainers among those large-cap stocks included brewer Sabeco (SAB), property developers Novaland (NVL) and Vingroup (VIC), food and beverage producer Masan Group (MSN) and lender Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID).

The performance of blue chips had a broad range of positive impacts on smaller, speculative stocks such as real estate company FLC Group (FLC) and Japan-Vietnam Medical Instrument JSC (JVC).

Positive trading on the HCM Stock Exchange also pulled the HNX Index of the Hà Nội Stock Exchange up from its intraday low level of 100.38 points.

The HNX Index finished Wednesday at 101.28 points, up 0.41 per cent from the previous session. It dropped 0.3 per cent on Tuesday.

Market trading liquidity on the northern exchange dropped sharply by 20 per cent in both volume and value from Tuesday’s numbers to 35 million shares and VNĐ397 billion.

The VN Index made its rebound after it fell back to the supportive range of 754-760 points on the forecast of Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company (SHS), proving that investors started to scoop up stocks as they retreated to attractive price levels.

The trading liquidity improved slightly, signaling the money has returned to the market, SHS said in its report on Wednesday.

“However, this could be a technical recovery for the benchmark index on the uncertainty of market trading conditions as the number of gaining stocks was still smaller than that of losing ones.”

Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC) said that the VN Index may return to test the range of 770-775 points, but selling pressure would be strong and could pull the index down when it reaches that level. — VNS