Customers perform transaction at a branch of Vietinbank (CTG) in Hà Nội. CTG rose 0.8 per cent on Tuesday. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares gained on Tuesday thanks to the banking sector.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange rose 0.79 per cent to end trading at 986.37 points.

Nearly 157.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ3.4 trillion (US$147.1 million).

The index edged down 0.03 per cent to close Monday at 978.63 points.

The large-cap VN30-Index climbed 1.02 per cent to close at 906.52 points with 18 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity gaining.

The stock market was driven by the strong performance of banks, which made strong gains on investors’ expectations of better business in 2020.

The two largest banks by market capitalisation on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange - Vietinbank (CTG) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) – took turns to lift the market. CTG rose 0.8 per cent and BID jumped 1.3 per cent.

Other lenders also posted strong growth, including VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB) and Military Bank (MBB), gaining 4.7 per cent, 3 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively.

Cash flow also poured into other large-caps such as Vinhomes (VHM) (+1.7 per cent), Vinamilk (VNM) (+1.7 per cent), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) (+1.6 per cent), Vincom Retail (VRE) (+1.9 per cent), Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX) (+1.6 per cent), Hòa Phát Group (HPG) (+1.4 per cent), and Masan Group (MSN) (+0.4 per cent).

In the opposite direction, brewery Sabeco (SAB) fell (-1.3 per cent), FPT Group (FPT) (-3.3 per cent) and Phú Nhuận Jewellery (PNJ) (-1.1 per cent).

On a sector basis, healthcare, securities, information and technology and seafood processing lost ground.

Meanwhile, insurance, real estate, wholesale, oil and gas, banking, agriculture, rubber production, food and beverage, retail and construction were among the gaining sectors.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index climbed 0.91 per cent to end Tuesday at 105.59 points.

The HNX-Index rose 0.73 per cent to end Monday at 104.64 points.

The stock market will trade on Wednesday before taking a break on Thursday (January 23) for the Tết holiday. It will return to action on Thursday, January 30, 2020.

According to Saigon-Hanoi Securities Co (SHS), after passing 980 points, the VN-Index could move towards the strong psychological threshold of 1,000 points.

In the final trading session of the Year of the Pig 2019 (Wednesday), the market may adjust with low liquidity, SHS said. — VNS