VN-Index makes biggest gain in three weeks

Vietnam's benchmark VN-Index rose 18.33 points, or 1.66%, to 1,120.49 points Monday, marking its biggest gain since November 8.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), which is represented by the index, soared to VND24.23 trillion ($999.58 million), nearly double that of last Friday and the highest in the past 11 sessions.

There were 487 gainers and 59 losers on the bourse.

The VN-30 index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest capped stocks, expanded 16.77 points, or 1.54%, to 1,107.16, with 29 tickers gaining and only SAB of brewer Sabeco decreasing slightly by 0.5%.

Among the blue chips, SSI of leading broker Saigon Securities led with a 5% surge, followed by MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World Investment Corp. with 3.1%, STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based Sacombank, 2.5%, and SHB of Saigon-Hanoi Bank, 2.3%.

The securities group became the focus of investor attention with most tickers closing at least 2% higher. Many codes increased over 5%, including VIX of VIX Securities, BMS of Bao Minh Securities, SHS of Saigon-Hanoi Securities, VND of VNDirect Securities, TCI of Thanh Cong Securities, SBS of SBS Securities, and MBS of MBBank Securities.

Securities stocks were cash flow magnets with SSI, VND and VIX attracting over VND1.5 trillion ($61.84 million), VND1.26 trillion ($51.95 million), and VND1.2 trillion ($49.47 million), respectively.

Real estate stocks also performed impressively, with ITA of Tan Tao Investment and Industry Corporation, GEX of GELEX Group, and VCG of Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation hitting their ceiling prices.

Most banking stocks also performed well with STB up 2.5%, TCB of Techcombank up 1.5%, SHB of Saigon-Hanoi Bank up 2.3%, and ACB of Asia Commercial Bank up 1.6%.

Foreign investors were net sellers on the HoSE for the fourth consecutive session to the tune of VND583 billion ($24 million). Selling focus was mainly on VHM of property giant Vinhomes, MWG, STB and SSI.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 2.23% to 231.31 points, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went up 0.92% to 85.97 points.