A broker at An Bình Securities Co. Vietnamese shares rose higher on Friday as oil prices picked up from early losses. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI – Shares kept rising higher on Friday as oil prices picked up in the afternoon session to lift energy stocks and spread a positive impact across the market.

Việt Nam’s benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange jumped 3.17 per cent to close at 701.80 points.

The VN-Index has gained a total of nearly 6.0 per cent in the last three days.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange rose 2.34 per cent to end at 97.84 points.

The northern market index leapt by 3.21 per cent on Wednesday.

The local market was closed on Thursday for the national holiday.

The VN-Index and the HNX-Index totalled weekly gains of 0.82 per cent and 0.50 per cent, respectively.

More than 286 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth nearly VNĐ4 trillion (US$169.6 million).

Of the total, about 242 million shares were traded via order-matching method, worth VNĐ3 trillion.

Oil prices picked up in the afternoon session after having fallen in the morning to extend their rallies for a third straight day.

Brent crude surged nearly 9 per cent to trade at $32.63 a barrel while US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumped 4.8 per cent to trade at $26.53 a barrel.

Local energy stocks such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) advanced between 5.5 per cent and 9.6 per cent.

The mining and energy sector index soared 6.1 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The rally of energy stocks helped offset the prolonged foreign selling and had a positive impact on other sectors such as brokerage, technology, real estate, property, retail, and banking.

Those industry indices grew between 2.9 per cent and 6.0 per cent.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index increased by 3.24 per cent with 29 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity rising.

Foreign investors on Friday net-sold VNĐ490 billion worth of local shares, focusing on private conglomerate Vingroup (VIC), shopping mall operator Vincom Retail (VRE) and Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Bank (SHB).

The market sentiment is improving as the VN-Index has made gains in six of the last seven trading days, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

But the growth could be short-lived as investors could still be worried about the rising number of infection cases in Việt Nam and the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy is unmeasurable, the company said.

Poor outlook on first-quarter corporate earnings could undermine the market recovery and the development of the disease would still weigh on the market sentiment, TCSC said. – VNS