Banking, securities stocks drive VN-Index gain

The VN-Index, which represents the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), rose 5.46 points, or 0.52%, to 1,052.25 on Monday, marking its fifth consecutive gaining session.

The major bourse saw up to 245 tickers increasing and 138 losing, with nearly 557 million shares changing hands for over VND9.7 trillion ($412.5 million), an increase of VND300 billion ($12.76 million) from the previous session March 24.

VN30 index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest-cap stocks, rose 5.03 points to 1,056.45.

Banking and securities stocks were the main support for the VN-Index gain. The majority of banking codes closed in green, notably VCB of Vietcombank up 2.25%, BID of BIDV 0.99%, MBB 1.13%, STB of Sacombank 1.8%, and SHB of Saigon-Hanoi Bank 1.43%.

Securities tickers also made impressive performance, with FTS of FPT Securities and BSI of BIDV Securities hitting their ceiling prices; VCI of Viet Capital Securities, SSI of Saigon Securities and HCM of Ho Chi Minh City Securities expanding 3.06%, 2.69% and 1.43% respectively.

Real estate stocks also had a good trading day with NVL of Novaland Group enjoying the maximum increase for the second consecutive session as investors expect new changes for the group after its shareholders approved plans on charter capital expansion and debt restructuring.

DXG of Dat Xanh Group, NLG of Nam Long Group, PDR of Phat Dat Real Estate, and DIG of DIG Corp went up 2-3%.

Green also covered many other groups, including industrial real estate, construction, steel, electricity, and construction materials.

Foreign investors were net buyers on the HoSE for the fifth consecutive session to the tune of over VND173 billion ($7.36 million). They mainly net purchased HPG of steel giant Hoa Phat and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi bourse went up 0.95 points to 206.67, while the UpCOM-Index on the unlisted public company market dropped 0.49 to 75.68.