An MBBank employee talks to a customer at its branch. The bank shares climbed 2.3 per cent in Monday's trade. — Photo mbbank.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's stock market finished higher on Monday, but foreign investors kept fleeing from the market. 

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed Monday's trade at 1,184.56 points, up 0.25 per cent, equivalent to three points. The index continued last week's rally thanks to gains in banking, materials and oil and gas stocks. 

Last week, the index rose by 1.1 per cent.

The market's breadth was positive with 270 stocks rising, while 195 stocks dropped and 50 stocks stayed unchanged. Domestic investors poured over VNĐ15.1 trillion into HoSE, equivalent to 676.96 million shares traded. 

Analysts from Bảo Việt Securities Co. expect that the market will encounter correction in some sessions but might bounce back later this week. 

"The VN-Index will continue to hover around territory limited by the upper bound of 1,185 - 1,200 points and the lower bound of 1,150 - 1,155 points," the analysts wrote in a daily report to customers. 

They recommended that investors should hold 50 per cent of stocks in their portfolios. And after buying at the support levels of 1,150 - 1,155 points, investors can consider to open short positions to reduce stock's proportion in their portfolio once the market approaches the strong resistance territory of 1,185 - 1,200 points.

The VN30-Index also increased by 0.26 per cent, equivalent to 3.05 points, to 1,190.86 points. 

Stocks from the banking sector still dominated the market's trend.

Three in top five stocks influencing the market's rally were in the banking sector, including MBBank (MBB), up 2.3 per cent, Vietcombank (VCB), up 0.52 per cent, and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), up 1.67 per cent. The other two stocks were Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex, PLX) and Masan Group Corporation (MSN).

The gain of the index was capped by materials, real estate and banking sectors.

Việt Nam Rubber Group JSC (GVR) posted the biggest loss of 1.94 per cent. JSC Bank For Investment And Development of Việt Nam (BID), Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (SAB), Sacombank (STB) and Vincom Retail JSC (VRE) declined 0.58 - 1.94 per cent. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 0.47 per cent to 275.19 points, while the HNX30-Index reversed the morning course to end lower at 392.77 points.

The HNX-Index increased by 5.4 per cent last week.

More than 141.3 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ2.15 trillion. 

In general, the market liquidity was high with a total trading volume of over 838.3 million shares on both exchanges, worth nearly VNĐ17.26 trillion. 

However, foreign investors still fled the market as they net sold a value of VNĐ410.16 billion on HoSE and a value of VNĐ889.38 million on HNX. — VNS