HÀ NỘI – Shares concluded the final week of August on a positive note on the HCM Stock Exchange, with the benchmark VN-Index expanding 0.76 per cent to close Friday at 788.73 points.

Heavyweight shares continued to support the market, with consumer goods leading the way.

Dairy giant Vinamilk and brewery Sabeco, the two biggest listed firms on the southern bourse by market value, gained 2.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively. Vinamilk’s outstanding shares accounted for 10.96 per cent of total market capitalisation while the number for Sabeco was 8.13 per cent.

Meanwhile, the biggest listed energy firm PV Gas rose 1.44 per cent.

Sixteen of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity (VN30) advanced and 10 declined.

Many sectors witnessed large divergences.

In the banking sector, Vietcombank and BIDV gained but Military Bank and Sacombank tumbled. In the construction and real estate industry, Kinh Bắc City Development and HCM City Infrastructure Investment slumped while VinGroup and Novaland Investment Group perked up.

According to BIDV Securities Co (BSC), although today the VN-Index increased, liquidity was significantly lower than the previous session.

Though the VN-index has successfully tested short-term resistance at 785 points, contrary to the previous session when cash tended to flow back into leading stocks, yesterday’s cash significantly weakened in the VN30, bank and real estate shares, BSC wrote in yesterday’s report.

“The uptrend today was partially contained in the resistance zone as well as affected by the psychology of the holiday,” the report said.

The VN-Index increased four out of five total sessions this week with combined growth of 2.2 per cent.

Speculative stocks performed unexpectedly well yesterday after several bearish sessions, with popular stocks such as FLC Group, Ocean Group, FIT Group, HAI Agrochem and Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate leading the market by trading volume with several millions to more than ten million shares traded.

These stocks closed up 1.5-6.7 per cent each.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, without the aid of large-cap stocks, the HNX-Index inched down 0.07 per cent to 103.81 points.

Only 181.6 million shares worth total VNĐ3.6 trillion (US$158.6 million) were traded in the two markets, down 35 per cent in volume and 31.4 per cent in value compared to Thursday’s figures. – VNS