An MBBank employee talking to a customer. The bank was the biggest gainer in market capitalisation on Wednesday, supporting the VN-Index to inch higher. — Photo mbbank.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's stock market settled higher on Wednesday with the benchmark hitting new highs on the back of bank stocks. Meanwhile, foreign investors flocked back to the market as they net bought a value of nearly VNĐ180 billion.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index climbed 8.12 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 1,316.7 points. The index edged higher despite the market breadth remaining negative with 166 stocks rising while 244 stocks declined.

However, the market's liquidity was high as more than 713 million shares were traded on HoSE, worth nearly VNĐ21.7 trillion (over US$1.17 billion). 

The gains was mainly contributed by bank stocks and some big stocks from the materials sector. The VN30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks in market capitalisation on HoSE, increased 0.77 per cent to 1,455.11 points. 

Sixteen of 30 biggest stocks in the VN30 basket jumped while 12 stocks fell and two stocks ended flat. 

Bank stocks continued to dominate the market's rally with many big names gaining more than 1 per cent like MBBank (MBB, up 4.75 per cent), Techcombank (TCB, up 2.33 per cent), VPBank (VPB, up 1.2 per cent), Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB, up 3.28 per cent) and SEABANK (SSB, up 6.74 per cent).

Stocks from the materials sector also supported the market, such as Hòa Phát Group (HPG), Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk, VNM), Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation (SAB) and Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR).

Nevertheless, the index pared some gains as selling pressure resurged in real estate, utilities, transportation and retail stocks. 

No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (NVL) posted the biggest losses in market capitalisation, down 1.48 per cent yesterday. It was followed by Vingroup JSC (VIC), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) and Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex, PLX). These stocks lost around 0.49 - 1.6 per cent.

According to an analyst from Bảo Việt Securities Company, the market is likely to face corrections to test the important resistance zone of around 1,285 points again, before heading toward higher resistance territories in the near future. 

The firm also recommended investors should raise the stocks' proportion in their portfolio to 50 - 60 per cent. And investors maybe consider opening long positions in the short term when the market fluctuates in the next sessions. 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also finished higher on large-cap stocks. The index settled 1.08 per cent higher to 304.86 points, boosted by gains of 0.51 per cent in the HNX30-Index. 

During the session, domestic investors poured over VNĐ3.1 trillion (nearly US$134.3 million) into the northern market, equivalent to a trading volume of 138.8 million shares.

Meanwhile, foreign investors came back to the market as they net bought a total value of VNĐ179.99 billion (nearly US$7.8 million). Of which, they net bought a value of VNĐ114.46 billion (nearly US$5 million) on HoSE and a value of VNĐ36.07 billion (US$1.56 million) on HNX. VNS