HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese shares soared on Monday as increasing oil prices helped boost the performance of petroleum companies.

 

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange surged 1.09 per cent to close at 987.13 points.

 

The VN-Index has gained 4.23 per cent since May 10.

 

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange was up 0.50 per cent to end at 106.31 points.

 

Last week, the VN-Index and the HNX-Index advanced 2.1 per cent and 0.07 per cent, respectively.

 

More than 192 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ4.22 trillion (US$181.5 million).

 

Both market indices were driven by strong gains in petroleum stocks.

 

On Monday, Brent crude was up 0.2 per cent to trade at $72.38 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) inched up 0.1 per cent to trade at $62.84 a barrel.

 

The uncertainty of US-China trade relations, rising tension between the US and Iran, and OPEC's plan to cut production have helped boost crude prices.

 

Vietnamese petroleum and energy stocks advanced between 1 and 3.3 per cent.

 

PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) and PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) were the best-performers, rising 3.3 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively.

 

Banks and securities firms also supported the market with investors expecting strong earnings reports for the second quarter, matching analysts’ forecasts from last week.

 

The two sector indices went up 1.3 per cent each, data on vietstock.vn showed.

 

Shares in Eximbank (EIB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietnam Investment Securities (IVS) and Viet Capital Securities (VCI) were among the best gainers.

 

Other sectors that also contributed to market growth on Monday included technology (up 2.3 per cent), retail (1.8 per cent), food and beverage (1.4 per cent) and construction (2.6 per cent).

 

The advance of the VN-Index with increased trading liquidity indicated investors were more confident in the market’s short-term prospects after negative news had been priced in previous weeks, Thành Công Securities Co (TCSC) said in its daily report.

 

The market would likely expand and move to test the 1,000-point level in the short run, the company added.

 

However, MB Securities JSC (MBS) warned profit-taking would put pressure on the stock market as the VN-Index had climbed for seven straight days. – VNS