HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares advanced for a second session on Tuesday as investors remained upbeat over the firms that are expected to deliver good results in the earnings season.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 1.04 per cent to close at 1,033.56 points. It moved up 1.01 per cent on Monday.

The minor HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange added 0.88 per cent to end at 122.14 points. The northern market index increased by 1.81 per cent on Monday.

More than 413.4 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ9.22 trillion (US$410 million).

The trading figures posted an increase of 16.4 per cent in volume and 12 per cent in value compared to the previous session.

Market trading condition remained positive with 271 gaining stocks against 202 declining shares, while 123 others remained steady.

Large-cap stocks were the major factor boosting the stock market on Tuesday, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company (SHS).

Leading industries also performed well to drive the market up, including financial-banking, energy, and steel and building material production.

Among those sectors, the banking, insurance, energy and construction material indices had the best growth rates of between 2.2 per cent and 4.6 per cent.

Top gainers in those sectors included PetroVietnam Coating (PVB), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), insurers Bảo Viet Holdings (BVH) and BIDV Insurance (BIC), Vietcombank (VCB), Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB), and steel producers Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Hòa Phát Group (HPG).

The mentioned stocks achieved growth rates of at least 4.1 per cent. HSG and HPG hit their daily trading limit of 6.9 per cent each.

Other sectors that recorded positive performances included real estate, securities, rubber production, healthcare and pharmaceutical services and seafood processing.

On the opposite side, agriculture, food and beverage and information-telecommunications-technology were among the industries that suffered losses.

According to Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC), investor confidence was still good despite the public paying attention to the trial of former high-ranking officials of State-owned energy firms and commercial banks who are being prosecuted for causing losses to the State budget worth trillions of đồng.

VDSC attributed good market sentiment to the strong inflow of capital that was directed into listed companies that would reveal higher-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and the whole of 2017, like steel producers, real estate firms and energy companies as their businesses benefited from rising commodities prices and strong demand from the local market.

“A huge amount of cash is now available on the market and investors are willing to jump in and replace one another to possess local stocks. Therefore, a strong decline seems unlikely to occur in the coming sessions,” VDSC said. — VNS