Traders at HCM City Securities Corp. Shares in securities sector advanced on Wednesday on expectations for good Q2 earnings reports. — Photo hsc.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Local shares improved little on Wednesday as strong gains of securities and consumer staples sectors countered worries about a prolonged economic recession after coronavirus cases surged worldwide.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.13 per cent to end at 864.5 points, extending its rally to a fourth day with total growth of 2.63 per cent since last Friday.

The strong growth of securities and consumer staples sectors helped propel the market as the two industry indices grew by 1.1 per cent and 1.0 per cent, according to vietstock.vn.

Among the best performers were brewer Sabeco (SAB), VietCapital Securities (VCI), FPT Securities (FPT) and HCM City Securities (HCM).

Sabeco shares on Wednesday jumped 4.3 per cent to close at VNĐ193,000 apiece, having rallied a total 22.9 per cent in six trading days since July 1 on expectations the Government will soon sell entire its stake in the largest brewery firm by market value and that the company will release better-than-expected earnings reports for the second quarter.

Securities stocks have also been boosted by similar second-quarter earnings expectations as the market saw a significant increase in trading liquidity.

Construction firms and banks also performed well.

However, investors were main cautious after reports from Australia showed coronavirus infections surged when states re-opened, leading to a six-week lockdown in Melbourne.

In the US, the total number of infections hit nearly 3.1 million, according to Worldometers.

The blue-chip index VN30 slid 0.08 per cent to 805.06 points to weight on the market while the mid-cap and small-cap indices rose 0.53 per cent and 0.15 per cent, respectively.

The VN30 futures, which mature on July 16, was up 1.02 per cent to end at 802.1 points.

Real estate, mining and energy, construction materials, and seafood weighed on the market.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased by 0.58 per cent to close Wednesday at 114.37 points.

The northern market index has gained a total of 2.53 per cent since the beginning of the week.

Nearly 267.5 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VNĐ4.64 trillion (US$200 million).

Foreign investors net-sold some VNĐ317.4 billion worth of local shares on Wednesday. They net-bought VNĐ50.2 billion worth of shares on Tuesday.

The market was balanced on Wednesday and it signalled the VN-Index may keep progressing in the next days, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

But investors should be aware that resistance would be strong when the benchmark nears 870-880 points and attention may be driven into the companies’ shares that are expected to release good Q2 earnings reports, the company said. — VNS