HÀ NỘI — The upwards trend continued during the afternoon session on Monday thanks to the strong purchasing power of investors on many large caps.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.79 per cent to close at 988.53 points.

It shed 0.8 per cent last week to end at 980.76 points.

More than 188.6 million shares were traded for VND4.3 trillion (US$183.8 million) on Monday.

Market breadth was quite balanced with 153 gainers, 158 decliners and 70 ending unchanged.

Finance, banking, real estate, insurance and petroleum companies were the main driving force behind the gains.

Those sectors rose by 0.02-1.63 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

The best performers in those sectors were Tiền Phong Bank (TPB), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), Vincom Retail (VRE), Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI) and Masan Group (MSN).

TPB climbed by 6.4 per cent to VNĐ22,600 per share. VNM increased by 2.8 per cent to VNĐ138,600 per share. VRE rose by 4.3 per cent to VNĐ36,100 per share. MSN gained strongly by 4.4 per cent to VNĐ88,000 per share.

The energy sector was the best performer on Monday, rising 1.63 per cent, driven up by the gain in global oil prices. Gainers in the sector included PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVD), PetroViệt Nam Coating JSC (PVB), Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) and Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX).

Global oil prices rose on Monday, building on its largest first-quarter gains in nearly a decade.

Brent crude climbed 96 cents, or 1.42 per cent, at $68.54 a barrel, having risen 27 per cent in the January-March period.

US West Texas Intermediate futures increased 56 cents, or 0.93 per cent, to $60.70 a barrel, after gaining 32 per cent in the first quarter.

In Hà Nội, the HNX-Index was up 0.27 per cent to 107.72 points on Monday.

More than 27.7 million shares were traded for VNĐ352 billion.

It had closed last week at 107.44 points after losing 0.60 per cent.

According to Bảo Việt Securities Company (BVSC), the market is expected to head toward the 981-991 points zone in the upcoming session.

“However, the market may encounter fluctuations and adjustments in this zone with a strong divergence among stocks,” it said.

Large-cap stocks, such as Vinamilk (VNM), Vietcombank (VCB), Vingroup (VIC), Vincom Retail (VRE) and Petro Vietnam Gas JSC (GAS) may remain their domination over the market. Bank stock is forecast to move sideways in accumulating phase, it said.

Capital flows may direct interest to stocks that achieved positive Q1/2019 profit while prices are adjusting to support zones, it added.

“Investors with high stock proportion should take advantage of market’s recovery to lower stock exposure, which should be limited at 40-45 per cent of the portfolio,” BVSC said. — VNS