Customers at a retail store of Mobile World Investment Corporation (HoSE: MWG). The company shares gained 1.7 per cent on Friday to help boost the stock market. — Photo thegioididong.com

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares ended Friday on a positive note thanks to the individual efforts of large-cap firms, while trading liquidity continued to decline before the national holidays.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.57 per cent to close at 979.64 points.

The VN-Index fell 0.29 per cent on Thursday. It totalled a weekly gain of nearly 1.4 per cent.

More than 118.5 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ2.8 trillion (US$120 million).

The large-cap VN30-Index was up 0.55 per cent to end at 890.55 points as companies were boosted by supportive business news.

Leading the large-cap basket’s gaining stocks was DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG), which gained 2.6 per cent.

The company’s shares rose following its announcement that the Japanese drug maker Taisho Pharmaceutical Co Ltd bought 20.6 million shares to raise its ownership in DHG Pharmaceutical to 50.78 per cent from nearly 35 per cent.

Taisho Pharmaceutical had offered to buy more than 28.3 million DHG shares between March 18 and April 16.

Real estate firm Vincom Retail (VRE) was the second best-performing large-cap stock, which advanced 2.4 per cent.

The company has released its first-quarter earnings reports, showing its post-tax profit in Q1 added 13 per cent year on year to VNĐ611 billion.

Another “Vin” stock – residential property developer Vinhomes (VHM) – was up 2 per cent while digital retailer Mobile World (MWG) went up 1.7 per cent.

The real estate, retail and pharmaceuticals sector indices were up between 0.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent.

Other key sectors of the stock market such as banking, brokerage and technology also saw share prices rise.

According to Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC), shares went up on the last trading day of April before the national holidays but trading liquidity remained quite low.

“Those two parts indicate investors are expecting the market to increase in the post-holiday period. But they are still taking a cautious stance to avoid risks, so liquidity keeps decreasing day after day,” TCSC said in the daily report.

However, any recovery days at the moment mean pullback only and investors would look to earn profits, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS).

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was up 0.49 per cent to finish at 107.46 points.

The HNX-Index inched down 0.19 per cent on Thursday, rising total 1.5 per cent through the week.

More than 31 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ346.7 billion.

The stock market will close on the first three trading days of next week – from Monday to Wednesday – for the national holidays. — VNS