A worker packaging ore at Núi Pháo mineral factory of Masan High-Tech Materials, a subsidiary of Masan Group (MSN). The MSN shares jumped 4.78 per cent yesterday. VNS/VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI — Shares closed higher on the last trading day of the week with the market benchmark hovering just below the important level of 1,300 points.  

The VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) inched 0.42 per cent higher to 1,299.31 points. The market's breadth was positive with 199 stocks increasing while 178 stocks declined. 

The liquidity was higher than on Friday but still lower than the 20-day average, showing the buying force was not strong enough. 

During the session, over 465.4 million shares were traded on the southern market, worth nearly VNĐ15.46 trillion (US$671.6 million). 

The trend was in line with expectations of analysts from Saigon - Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS).

"The market might continue to fluctuate and struggle in a range of 1,260 - 1,300 points," SHS said in a daily report to investors.

The index's gains were thanks to large-cap stocks, especially in real estate, material, bank and information technology (IT) stocks. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index rose 0.54 per cent to 1,438.05 points. 

Of the VN30 basket, 19 stocks climbed while 10 fell and one ended flat. 

Top five stocks dominating the market's gain were real estate and material stocks. Of which, Vingroup JSC (VIC) rose the most in market capitalisation, up 3.73 per cent. 

It was followed by Masan Group (MSN), Việt Nam Rubber Group (GVR), Asia Commercial JSC (ACB) and Phát Đạt Real Estate Development JSC (PDR). All these stocks posted gains of at least 2.6 per cent. 

Other stocks witnessing good performance were FPT Corporation (FPT), Vinamilk (VNM) and VPBank (VPB).

However, the gains were still capped by losses of some pillar stocks like Vinhomes JSC (VHM), down 1.18 per cent, Investment And Industrial Development Corporation (Becamex, BCM), down 4.75 per cent, Vietinbank (CTG), down 1 per cent and Techcombank (TCB), down 0.96 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also closed higher on the last trading session of the week, up 0.48 per cent to 307.76 points. 

More than 96.65 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth over VNĐ2.3 trillion.

On the other hand, foreign investors were net buyers with a total value of VNĐ65.07 billion. Of which, they poured VNĐ66.89 billion in HoSE, while net sold a value of VNĐ5.32 billion. VNS