An HDBank branch in HCM City. HDBank soared 7 per cent on Wednesday. — Photo courtesy of the bank

HÀ NỘI — Shares ended higher on Wednesday with the VN-Index extending its rally on banking stocks.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 1.15 per cent, or 14.23 points, to finish the trading day at 1,256.43 points. The market breadth was still positive as 330 stocks rose while 93 fell and 33 stocks ended flat.

The southern market index had gained 0.23 per cent to closed Tuesday at 1,242.2 points.

The market liquidity was higher than yesterday with nearly 744.4 million shares traded on the southern market, worth VNĐ21.2 trillion (US$915 million).

The index was boosted by large-cap stocks, mainly in the banking sector. The 30 large-cap stocks tracker VN30-index increased 1.42 per cent to 1,346.89 points. Twenty-five of the 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket increased Wednesday while four stocks decreased.

Many big bank stocks posted great performance yesterday with Techcombank (TCB) and HDBank (HDB) leading the gains, up 7 per cent. Military Bank (MBB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) all jumped.

Some other individual large-caps also made gains such as PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX) and SSI Securities Co (SSI), all up more than 2 per cent.

In a daily report to investors, BIDV Securities Co said: “The VN-Index increased gradually from the beginning of the morning session to the end of the afternoon session and is now back above the 1,255 points threshold.”

“Investment cash flow increased while foreign investors were net sellers on HoSE and net buyers on HNX. In addition, market breadth turned to a positive status with the liquidity not much different from the previous session.

“In our opinion, the VN-Index may face short-term profit-taking pressure at 1,260-1,280 points as this is the index's historic peak area,” it said.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ779.63 billion on HOSE, including Hoà Phát Group (HPG) (VNĐ190.8 billion), Vincom Retail (VRE) (VNĐ187.9 billion) and Vietinbank (CTG) (VNĐ172.8 billion). They were net buyers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ15.51 billion.

Meanwhile, on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 1.16 per cent to 280.93 points. The HNX30-Index gained 2.43 per cent to 423.17 points.

The northern market index had fallen 1.43 per cent to close Tuesday at 277.71 points.

During the session, over 134.8 million shares were traded on HNX, worth nearly VNĐ2.8 trillion. — VNS