HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares rebounded on Wednesday as investors bet on listed banks due to their full-year earnings reports while global markets moved well on positive US-China trade talks.

The benchmark VN Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 1.08 per cent to close at 896.99 points. The southern market index edged down 0.25 per cent on Tuesday.

The HNX Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange was up 0.86 per cent to end at 102.13 points, recovering from a Tuesday loss of 0.65 per cent.

More than 199 million shares were traded on the two local bourses, worth VNĐ3.69 trillion (US$159 million).

The market was driven by bank stocks, which pulled the banking industry index up 2.2 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Bank stocks became attractive to investors as they had been the worst-performing group in three and a half months since the VN Index was at its three-month high of 961.28 points on December 12, according to Hoàng Thạch Lân, Rồng Việt Securities Corp’s head of individual investor division.

Banks were also among large-cap companies that had been expected to produce better-than-expected earnings reports for 2018, according to Trần Minh Hoàng, head of market analysis division at Vietcombank Securities JSC.

On Wednesday, 11 of the 13 listed banks on the Vietnamese market advanced with TPBank shares (TPB) the strongest earner.

TPBank shares jumped 4.6 per cent to end at VNĐ20,600 ($0.88) per share. The bank recently announced its pre-tax profit reached VNĐ2.26 trillion in 2018, double 2017’s figure.

Bank shares have rallied a total 5.9 per cent in the past three trading days.

The strong growth of TPBank shares had positive impact on other bank stocks such as Eximbank (EIB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB).

Another factor that supported market performance on Wednesday was improved investor confidence after they received good signals from ongoing US-China trade talks, which started on Monday, BIDV Securities Corp said in its daily report.

The continuing oil price recovery also helped boost the market as it aided petroleum companies’ stocks such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

Brent crude added 2 per cent to trade at near $60 a barrel, adding its rally up to 18.6 per cent since Christmas.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company, market sentiment grew stronger in the last minutes and the market is expected to extend its rally on Thursday.

“The market breadth was positive” and “investors have partly eased their bearish and pessimistic sentiment,” BVSC said. — VNS