Vietnamese shares set a new one-year high on Wednesday, propelled by buoyant banking stocks.

 

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 1.11 per cent to end the trading session at 1,066.99 points.

 

The index lost 0.83 per cent to end Tuesday's trading session at 1,055.27 points.

 

Nearly 592 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ11.9 trillion (US$516.3 million).

 

Market breadth was positive with 296 gainers and 134 decliners.

 

“The VN-Index increased gradually from the beginning of the morning session to the end of the afternoon session and has now surpassed the threshold of 1,065 points,” said BIDV Securities Co.

 

“Foreign investors were net sellers on both HoSE and HNX. Besides, market breadth turned positive and liquidity declined compared to the previous session. According to our assessment, the VN-Index may reach 1,070 in the next session,” it said.

 

Foreigners net sold VNĐ219.1 billion on HOSE, including PAN Group (PAN) with VNĐ91 billion, Hoà Phát Group (HPG) with VNĐ83.9 billion and SSI Securities Co (SSI) with VNĐ39.2 billion. They were net sellers on the HNX with a value of VNĐ640 million.

 

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index was up 1.65 per cent to 1,029.72 points.

 

Twenty-three of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket increased while three decreased.

 

Banking stocks maintained their gains until the end of Wednesday's session, strongly supporting the indices. The best performers in the group included Bank for Investment and Development (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), Techcombank (TCB), HDBank (HDB), VPBank (VPB) and Vietcombank (VCB).

 

Nineteen out of 25 sectors indices on the stock market gained ground, including seafood processing, construction, logistics, wholesale, real estate, retail, insurance, IT, energy, banking, food and beverage and construction materials.

 

They gained between 0.1 and 2.1 per cent.

 

On the opposite side, losers were rubber production, securities and healthcare.

 

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rose 2.23 per cent to end Wednesday at 171.62 points.

 

The index had gained 1.28 per cent to close Tuesday at 167.87 points.

 

More than 93 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ1.3 trillion. — VNS