The production line at An Phát Plastic and Green Environment JSC. The company's shares soared 6.8 per cent yesterday after it announced pre-tax profits in the first quarter of  VNĐ270 billion, exceeding the full 2018 figure of VNĐ253 billion. Photo cafef.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares took off yesterday as oil prices increased and news on annual shareholder meetings and 2019 business plans helped cushion investor confidence amidst a lack of supportive news.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.84 per cent to close at 997.56 points.

The southern market index increased by 0.86 per cent last week.

More than 163.6 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ3.43 trillion (US$147 million).

Banks and petro firms proved to be the drivers yesterday.

The two indices gained 1.8 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The expansion of oil prices on global trade helped bolster investor confidence in local energy stocks.

Brent crude rose sharply 1.4 per cent last Thursday to end last week at $70.34 a barrel. It gained 0.5 per cent to trade at $70.66 a barrel yesterday.

Among local petro stocks, PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) jumped 3.1 per cent and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) gained 4.1 per cent.

Investors also focused on listed banks ahead of their annual shareholder meetings.

Most of the 10 banks listed on HoSE will hold their annual shareholder meetings in April.

Among those banks, Vietcombank (VCB) increased by 2.3 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG) rose 1.8 per cent and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) added 1.3 per cent.

An Phát Plastic and Green Environment JSC (AAA) had told local media pre-tax profit in Q1 was VNĐ270 billion, exceeding its 2018 full-year figure by VNĐ17 billion.

AAA surged 6.8 per cent following the news.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index climbed 0.98 per cent to end at 108.93 points.

The northern market index gained stretched by total 0.41 per cent during the previous trading week.

The northern market was driven by Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB) – which will organise their annual shareholder meetings on April 23.

Asia Commercial Bank has released the key documents that will be presented at its coming annual shareholder meeting. The bank plans to pay a 30 per cent dividend for 2019 and targets VNĐ7.28 trillion in profit.

But market trading liquidity remains a big challenge for the stock market as investors hold onto their money due to lack of supportive news.

Investors were running away from large-cap stocks and directing their cash into mid-cap and small-cap stocks, according to VNDirect Securities analyst Nguyễn Trung Du.

Market trading liquidity may increase in the next few weeks when the market received good news from international market and listed companies’ shareholder meetings, Du added. — VNS