Boxes of Sabeco beer are stacked for sale. The company's shares gained 2.9 per cent on Thursday. — Photo nld.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares finished Thursday higher as investors hunted for low-priced assets and global markets moved on hopes for the continuance of US-China trade talks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 1.08 per cent to close at 979.38 points, for a two-day increase totalling 1.30 per cent.

The VN-Index fell as much as 1.36 per cent in the early stages of the day before rebounding.

As trading opened on Thursday, the Vietnamese stock market was weighed down by worries about the global economic outlook, MB Securities Co (MBS) said in its daily report.

But purchasing as the VN-Index hit 955-point level helped lift the market up, the report said.

Purchases of local assets were even stronger in the afternoon trading session after investors received good news about the relationship between the US and China, the company added.

Global stocks were also lifted after the presidents of the US and China talked about a meeting to resolve the situation in Hong Kong and continue their trade talks.

Large-cap stocks played the main role in lifting the market.

The blue-chip VN30-Index rose 1.17 per cent to end at 890.78 points with 19 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity advancing.

Among the gainers in the VN30 basket were brewer Sabeco (SAB), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), Vietcombank (VCB), realty group Vingroup (VIC) and retailer Mobile World (MWG). They all increased by between 2 per cent and 3.5 per cent.

Those companies’ sector indices were up by between 0.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The market’s trading liquidity was also higher than in the previous day.

Nearly 183 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.3 trillion (US$185 million).

The figure included more than 131 million shares, worth VNĐ2.8 trillion, being traded via order-matching transactions.

The increase of order-matching value from the previous day (VNĐ2.68 trillion) given the VN-Index touching its previous short-term bottom of 955 points indicated the VN-Index may keep rising in the next few days, MBS said.

Market sentiment was also supported by reduced net foreign selling – VNĐ70 billion on Thursday. Foreign investors net-sold VNĐ225 billion on Wednesday.

However, as the VN-Index was heavily dependent on large-cap stocks, the recovery may be short-lived and it will be harder for investors to look for opportunities, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its report.

The growth of the VN-Index, if any, may not be too strong because there is not much supporting information and global markets are likely to retreat at any time, the company added.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index dropped 0.32 per cent to end at 101.66 points.

The northern market index has lost a total of 1.13 per cent in the last three trading days.

Nearly 22.6 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ317.5 billion. — VNS