VPBank Tower on Láng Hạ Street, Đống Đa Ward, Hà Nội City. The bank shares rose more than 6 per cent on Thursday. Photo vpbank.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Shares ended mixed Thursday with the VN-Index continuing its upward trend on bank stocks while foreign investors fled from the market. 

The market benchmark VN-Index edged 0.8 per cent higher, or 9.84 points, to finish the trading day at 1,239.39 points. The market breadth was still positive as 220 stocks rose while 167 fell and 53 stocks ended flat. 

The market’s liquidity was higher than yesterday with nearly 647.2 million shares traded on the southern market, worth VNĐ19.3 trillion. 

The index was boosted by large-cap stocks, mainly in the banking sector. The 30 large-cap stocks tracker VN30-index increased 1.41 per cent to 1,312.28 points. Twenty of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket inched higher yesterday while ten stocks decreased. 

In a daily report to investors, MB Securities JSC said that the recovery of the banking sector was the driving force supporting the market rebound.

The cash flows remaining high not only helped the index gain points but also eased investors sentiment amid selling pressure earlier this week, the firm added. 

“On the technical front, the market has created a buffer zone for the bottom in the short-term, the upper bound at the resistance territory of 1,300 points will fluctuate,” MB Securities said. 

However, the securities firm forecasted that the fluctuation is not a big concern as the upward trend will still dominate due to current optimistic signs, both internal and external.

Many big bank stocks posted great performance yesterday with VPBank (VPB) leading the gains, up 6.36 per cent. Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB), HDBank (HDB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) all jumped more than 1 per cent. 

Other stocks from materials, real estate and construction, and utilities also witnessed big gains. Of which, Hoà Phát Group (HPG) edged 3.75 per cent higher, Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR) up 3 per cent, No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (Novaland, NVL) up 2.66 per cent and PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) up 1.95 per cent. 

On the contrary, Vinhomes JSC (VHM) reported the biggest losses, down 1.59 per cent. Other stocks weighing the market were Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (SAB), Vingroup JSC (VIC) and Masan Group (MSN).

Meanwhile, on the Hà Nôi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index fell 0.11 per cent to 281.75 points despite gains in large-cap stocks. The HNX30-Index rose 0.17 per cent to 419.19 points. 

During the session, over 121.4 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VNĐ2.4 trillion. 

Foreign investors fled from the market again as they net sold a value of VNĐ378.49 billion. Of which, they net sold a value of VNĐ410.82 billion on HoSE, while net bought a value of VNĐ16.13 billion on HNX and a value of VNĐ15.9 billion on UPCOM.

Viet Nam's market will close on Friday due to the long holiday. VNS