One of Mobile World Investment Corp's stores in Hà Nội. The retailer's shares gained 2.4 per cent on Friday. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares were steady on Friday with retail, material and brokerage sectors at the centre of attention.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.42 per cent to 1,010.22 points, extending its rally to a ninth day with total growth of 6.25 per cent.

The index this week increased by a total of 2.04 per cent.

Brokerage, retail and material industries lifted the market on Friday.

The three sectors were up 1.5 per cent, 2.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively, according to vietstock.vn.

Top companies in the three industries advanced.

VNDirect Securities (VND) jumped 4.3 per cent, HCM City Securities (HCM) gained 1.7 per cent, and VietCapital Securities (VCI) was up 2.4 per cent.

The retail sector was driven up by Mobile World Investment (MWG), which increased by 2.4 per cent.

Steel producers Hòa Phát (HPG) jumped 3.3 per cent and Pomina (POM) soared nearly 7.0 per cent.

Bank stocks remained positive. HDBank (HDB) surged 6.7 per cent, followed by Military Bank (MBB) and TPBank (STB) – which rose 2.6 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively.

Other gainers included insurer Bảo Việt (BVH), residential property firm Vinhomes (VHM) and Investment and Industrial Development Corp (BCM).

On the negative side, large-cap stocks such as Vingroup (VIC), aviation firm Vietjet (VJC), brewer Sabeco (SAB), Việt Nam Rubber Group (GVR), VPBank (VPB) and Eximbank (EIB) weighed on the market development.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index gained 0.72 per cent to 971.11 points while the VN30 futures due on December 17 were up 0.44 per cent to 974.50 points.

According to Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities (SHS), investors would remain confident in the future growth of large-cap stocks and the market in the next few days.

The mid-cap and small-cap trackers on HoSE also advanced, rising 0.95 per cent and 0.73 per cent, respectively.

The minor HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange slid 0.15 per cent to 148.17 points on Friday.

The northern market index had risen total 0.55 per cent in the previous two days.

The HNX-Index this week was up total 0.65 per cent.

Nearly 505 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth VNĐ10.75 trillion (US$463.5 million).

BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said in its daily report that the market would keep increasing in the coming days and head to challenge the 1,025 point level. — VNS