HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares had a good start on Monday with the two main stock indices rising, largely on the strength of a handful of banking and securities blue-chips.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) gained 2.11 per cent to settle at 1,013.78 points. It posted a weekly growth of 3 per cent last week.

Meanwhile, the HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX) advanced 2.22 per cent to end at 118.32 points. The northern market index rose 1.1 per cent last week.

More than 222 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ5.9 trillion (US$258 million).

Market trading conditions were positive, with 158 declining stocks against 311 gainers, while 274 other stocks remained unchanged.

Only 5 of the 24 largest shares by market capitalisation advanced in the VN30 Index.

The VN30 Index was up 2.84 per cent to 996.67 points, with more than 65.6 million shares exchanged, worth VNĐ2.8 trillion.

Nineteen of the 20 sectors on the stock market saw share prices rise, with brokerage firms, banks and construction material firms making the strongest gains. The three sector indices were up 3 per cent, 3.4 per cent and 4.8 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Banking stocks, including the big gainers of Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG), up 1.8 per cent; Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBB), rising 4.1 per cent; and JSC Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), gaining 2.7, attracted cash flow and led the market.

Best performers in the securities sector were Sai Gon Securities Incorporation (SSI), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM) and VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND).

Techcombank, listed on HOSE on Monday, faced strong selling pressure with nearly 3 million shares trading at the floor price. At the end of the session, there were still over 2 million shares selling at the floor price.

According to Việt Dragon Securities Company, the market’s perception of this stock was that it was overpriced, considering the stock had rallied non-stop in the OTC market since last year, while other listed banks had declined 20-40 per cent for the last couple of weeks.

However, demand for TCB was also strong Monday. This, coupled with a potential stock bonus plan at a ratio of 1:2 to be discussed in the upcoming extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting (EGM), can become a support factor for the stock price.

Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC) said that after 3 sessions of strong recovery, VN-Index would likely suffer stronger profit-taking pressure in the coming sessions.

However, technical signals indicated that VN-Index could still move forwards (to 1,050). Therefore, the potential volatility is considered a purchase opportunity for investors with low stock exposure, BVSC said in its daily report.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) gained 1.52 per cent to finish at 53.63 points. It rose 0.13 per cent to stand at 52.83 points on Friday. — VNS