Customers buy MEATDeli pork, a branded chilled meat product of Masan Group. The company shares hit the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent yesterday, supporting the market's trend. — Photo courtesy of Masan MEATLife

HÀ NỘI — Shares settled higher on Wednesday, reversing their morning course on recoveries of materials and banking stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed Wednesday's trade at 1,255.87 points, up 7.54 points, or 0.6 per cent. The index fell 0.37 per cent in the morning trade after losing 0.33 per cent on Tuesday. 

The market's liquidity remained high as nearly 862 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth over VNĐ19.3 trillion. 

The index might continue to be weighed by correction pressure in the next few sessions before returning to its short-term rally, Bảo Việt Securities Company's stock analyst Trần Xuân Bách said. 

"In general, the index is still expected to gain points, heading to resistance territory of 1,275 - 1,300 points in the near term," Bách said, adding that local cash flows remain the key momentum to support the market.

The rally returned on gains of large-cap stocks in banking and materials sectors.

The VN30-Index, tracking 30 large-cap stocks on HoSE, climbed 1.05 per cent to 1,290.77 points. Twenty of the 30 biggest stocks in VN30 basket rose while nine stocks declined and one ended flat. 

Hoà Phát Group (HPG) contributed the most to the market, up 5.79 per cent. Followed by Masan Group Corporation (MSN) with shares hitting the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent to VNĐ100,700.

Other stocks listed in top five influencing the market's rally were Vietcombank (VCB), real estate developer No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (NVL) and Vietinbank (CTG).

PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG), FPT Corporation (FPT) and Vietjet Aviation JSC (VJC) also posted positive performance. 

Meanwhile, losses in Vinhomes JSC (VHM), Vingroup JSC (VIC), Việt Nam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk, VNM) and Việt Nam Rubber Group JSC (GVR) capped the market's gain.

VHM shares posted the biggest losses in market capitalisation, down 1.95 per cent. 

Bách recommended investors keep stock proportion in their portfolio at 65 - 80 per cent. Investors with high cash ratio might consider opening long positions to increase stock proportion in correcting sessions. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also edged higher on Wednesday, up nearly 0.9 per cent to 294.83 points. The HNX30-Index increased 1.13 per cent to 446.69 points. 

During the session, domestic investors poured nearly VNĐ2.7 trillion into the northern market, equivalent to a trading value of over 167 million shares. 

However, foreign investors returned to net sell on both exchanges with a value of over VNĐ1 trillion on HoSE and a net value of VNĐ15.26 billion on HNX. — VNS