The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) gained 0.72 per cent to end at 982.98 points.— VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares closed on a positive note on Thursday as a minority of large-cap stocks were driven by strong foreign buying.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) gained 0.72 per cent to end at 982.98 points.

The southern market index has increased by a total of 1.35 per cent in the past two trading days.

More than 217 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.1 trillion (US$175.7 million).

Market breadth was balanced with 157 stocks gaining, 148 declining and 49 ending flat.

Foreign purchases were credited for the market expansion on Thursday after foreign investors net-bought VNĐ151.7 billion worth of stocks on the HoSE.

Targeted stocks included residential developer Vinhomes (VHM), real estate-retail giant Vingroup (VIC), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), and Vietcombank (VCB).

Net foreign buys of the four stocks were VNĐ48 billion, VNĐ34.67 billion, VNĐ34.9 billion and VNĐ24 billion, respectively.

Those four large-cap stocks each gained between 1.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent. Their gains drove the real estate and banking sector indices up 1.6 per cent and 1 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Positive performance of the four blue-chips also helped the large-cap VN30-Index end Thursday slightly down instead of falling further on selling pressure.

The blue-chip VN30-Index was barely changed, finishing the day down 0.01 per cent at 901.65 points.

Thirteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the VN30 basket advanced while 14 declined.

Other large-caps that made gains were Coteccons Construction Corp (CTD), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Vietinbank (CTG), steel producer Hòa Phát (HPG) and tech giant FPT Corp (FPT).

According to Thành Công Securities JSC (TCSC), though the market advanced for the second day, the contrast between the VN-Index and the VN30-Index means there is a strong divergence among local stocks.

It also indicates caution investors are dominating trading activity, TCSC added.

“The stock market is in the stage where there is insufficient amount of supportive information, both from domestic and international markets, leading to the cautious sentiment among investors,” it said.

Thursday’s gains could be a technical recovery and lack of capital inflow may send the index down again on Friday, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS) said in its daily report.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.21 per cent to end at 107.34 points.

The northern market index had gained a total of 1.08 per cent in the previous two trading days.

More than 25.5 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ404.5 billion. — VNS