A Vietnam Rubber Group worker collecting latex at a rubber plantation. The company shares hit the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent on Wednesday. Photo courtesy Vietnam Rubber Group

HÀ NỘI — Shares finished higher on Wednesday with the VN-Index recording a second straight daily gain, backed by large-cap stocks from real estate, materials and banking sectors. 

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) increased 0.8 per cent, or 9.8 points, to 1,229.55 points. The market breadth was still positive with 280 stocks rising while 128 declined. And 46 stocks ended flat. 

The market’s liquidity was also high as domestic investors poured over VNĐ15.4 trillion into the southern market, equivalent to a trading volume of nearly 612.7 million shares. 

The index gained despite expectations from analysts that the index might fall lower. 

Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that the slight recovery of the VN-Index on Tuesday and lower matched order showed that buying demand was weak. 

“On the technical front, after hitting a peak of 1,286 points on April 20, the index couldn’t finish above 1,250 points. Therefore, the index has entered corrective wave A with a target of 1,140 points,” SHS added. 

The market might continue to edge lower to complete the corrective wave in May, “and it might fall back to lower levels for bottom purchases on Wednesday," said the securities firm.

The market jumped on the back of big stocks from many sectors, but mainly were real estate, materials and banking stocks. 

The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE, climbed 0.8 per cent to 1,294.06 points. Twenty-one of the VN30 basket inched higher while seven stocks slid.

Of the top five stocks dominating the market rally, three were from the real estate sector, one from banking and one from the materials sector. Accordingly, No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (Novaland, NVL) was still the biggest gainer in market capitalisation, up 5.35 per cent. Followed by Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR) and VPBank (VPB), up 6.84 per cent and 3.38 per cent, respectively. 

The other two stocks were Vincom Retail JSC (VRE) and Vinhomes JSC (VHM).

Meanwhile, losses in some stocks capped the market’s upward trend. Of which, Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk, VNM) posted the biggest loss, down 2.09 per cent. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index reversed course and closed higher yesterday on pillar stocks. The index jumped 0.54 per cent to 282.07 points as the HNX30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks on the exchange, also rose 0.71 per cent. 

During the trading day, over 96.9 million shares were traded on HNX, worth around VNĐ2 trillion. 

Foreign investors were still net buyers on both exchanges, with a total value of VNĐ395.27 billion. Of which, they net bought a value of VNĐ392.94 billion on HoSE and a value of VNĐ2.33 billion on the northern bourse. 

Meanwhile, on UPCOM, they net sold a value of VNĐ8.54 billion. VNS