Cars assembled at Vingroup JSC's VinFast factory in Cát Hải District, northern city of Hải Phòng. Shares of the conglomerate (HoSE: VIC) soared 5.8 per cent on Friday.  VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares picked up in the last minutes of trading on Friday, driven by Vingroup JSC following the strong profit growth reported for the third quarter.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.7 per cent to 925.47 points, rebounding from a four-day losing streak of 4.39 per cent.

Friday’s increase helped the index narrow its weekly loss to a total of 3.72 per cent.

Vingroup JSC gave the market a boost on Friday after the company reported strong earnings growth in the third quarter.

The conglomerate announced net revenue in the third quarter grew by 14 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ35.9 trillion (US$1.11 billion) thanks to divestment from real estate projects and vehicle and smartphone sales.

Pre-tax profit in July-September jumped 42 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ3.6 trillion and post-tax profit doubled from last year’s figure to VNĐ1.43 trillion on September 30.

But due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vingroup earned VNĐ10.5 trillion in total revenue, up only 10.4 per cent year-on-year, and VNĐ2.84 trillion in total post-tax profit in nine months, down 31 per cent year-on-year.

Vingroup shares (VIC) surged 5.8 per cent on Friday – the biggest gain among the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket.

Other large-cap gainers included HDBank (HDB), retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG), and dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM).

HDBank and Mobile World Investment announced their third-quarter and nine-month performances improved from last year.

HDB and MWG rose 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index on Friday advanced 0.66 per cent to 892.55 points and the VN30 futures due on November 19 was up 1.02 per cent to 896.60 points, indicating investors were betting on the chance of a better short-term outlook for the market, according to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS).

Mid-cap and small-cap stocks also performed well, pushing the two trackers up 0.33 per cent and 0.24 per cent, respectively.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index added 0.73 per cent to 135.34 points.

The northern market index has increased by a total of 0.97 per cent after the last two trading days.

But a three-day losing streak between October 26-29 resulted in a weekly decline of 4.49 per cent for the HNX-Index.

More than 348.6 million shares were traded on the two exchanges on Friday, worth nearly VNĐ7 trillion. — VNS