Shares closed yesterday’s trade on a positive note on the two national stock exchanges as the banking, securities and steel sectors continued to support the market. — Photo vneconomy.vn

HÀ NỘI – Shares closed yesterday’s trade on a positive note on the two national stock exchanges as the banking, securities and steel sectors continued to support the market.

The VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged up 0.14 per cent to close at 808.96 points. Việt Nam’s key stock index increased just 0.4 per cent last week.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also picked up 0.71 per cent to end at 108.75 points, expanding last week’s gain of 0.3 per cent.

The market has continued its uptrend on the two exchanges but moved sideways with alternate ups and downs in recent weeks.

Financial and steel stocks remained buoyant and the main supporter for the market, while construction and building materials, oil and gas and healthcare were the main factors on the downside.

“The market fluctuation with the differentiation of stocks and sectors showed that the general investment sentiment is mixed ahead of third quarter business results,” analysts at BIDV Securities Co wrote in a note.

The banking sector showed positive results.

All 10 listed banks gained value on the two exchanges, of which the Big Four (including four largest banks by market value and total assets) – Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID) and Military Bank (MBB) – perked up by less than 1 per cent.

In addition, good prospects for the steel sector also helped leading companies such as Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and POM Steel Corp (POM) rally. HPG and POM increased by over 1 per cent while HSG inched up 0.2 per cent.

Big securities companies, including Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), HCM Securities (HCM), VNDirect Securities (VND), MB Securities (MBS) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Co rose between 0.6-5 per cent.

On the defensive side, the biggest stocks that weighed on the market included VinGroup (VIC), down 1.1 per cent; Petrolimex (PLX), down 0.8 per cent; PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), down 1.1 per cent; and PV Gas (GAS), down 0.4 per cent.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Co, sideways movement may still be seen in coming sessions but with the upcoming third-quarter earnings results of some listed companies, the market is unlikely to tumble in the short term.

Liquidity was positive with a total of over 226 million shares worth a combined VNĐ4.4 trillion (US$194 million) being traded in the two markets, up 32.2 per cent in volume and 42 per cent in value compared to last week’s daily trading. – VNS