Customers perform transactions at a VPBank transaction office. Photo VPBank.

HÀ NỘI — The benchmark edged higher on Thursday on the back of banking and real estate stocks, recovering from the morning session loss, while the HXN-Index ended lower. 

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange increased by 0.11 per cent after a decline in the morning trading session. The index ended an eight-day rally on Wednesday, sliding away from a historic level of 1,204 points. At the end of the trading day, 258 stocks rose with 37 hitting the intra-day limit growth of 7 per cent, while 173 declined. 

Sectors witnessing gains included finance and insurance, construction and real estate, production, IT and retail. 

On the southern bourse, more than 779 million shares were traded, worth nearly VNĐ17.1 trillion.

"Cash inflows increased. The market breadth returned to a positive status while liquidity was not so different from the previous session. In our view, the VN-Index maybe witness the balance of demand and supply in the last day's trading," BIDV Securities Co wrote in a daily report. 

The VN30-Index posted an increase of 0.38 per cent to end the day at 1,168.99 points. In the large-cap basket, fourteen stocks climbed, of which one stock increased nearly 7 per cent. While fifteen stocks declined, one ended flat. 

FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (ROS) was the biggest gainer of the 30 large-cap stocks, up 6.84 per cent to end Thursday at VNĐ3,280. SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) also increased 5.52 per cent to VNĐ35,350. 

Banking sectors still recorded good performance with VPBank (VPB) up 3.08 per cent to VNĐ36,800. Sacombank (STB) also climbed 3.08 per cent to end the day at VNĐ21,100. Other banks such as MBBank (MBB), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB) and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) ended the day with an increase of more than 1 per cent. 

On the other hand, many big producers and property developers posted negative performance on Thursday. Property developer Vinhomes JSC (VHM) fell 1.29 per cent to VNĐ99,600. Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VNM), Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (SAB) and Masan Group Corporation (MSN) also decreased more than 1 per cent. 

Utilities, transportation and logistics were among sectors with poor performance on Thursday. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 0.1 per cent to 222.27 points after posting an increase of 0.23 per cent on Wednesday.

Foreign investors poured a net value of VNĐ1 trillion into the southern market, while they were net sellers on the northern market, unloading shares worth a net sell value of VNĐ17.72 billion. — VNS