BANKS, REAL ESTATE FIRMS RETURN TO LIFT VN INDEX

Shares rose further on the HCM Stock Exchange on Friday morning, led by banks and property firms. The benchmark VN Index added 0.35 per cent to close at 831.86 points. It gained 0.15 per cent on Thursday.

Some 92 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.37 trillion (US$105.6 million).

Market breadth was negative with 102 stocks gaining, 143 declining and 53 ending flat.

Bank stocks returned to lift the southern market with five of the seven listed banks on the HCM Stock Exchange advancing.

The gainers included Vietcombank (VCB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), which increased by 0.9 per cent each.

Among property stocks that made gains were Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp (KBC), Hoang Quan Real Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate (HQC) and Vingroup (VIC).

However, market growth is considered unstable as investor confidence on the market's prospects could decline towards to the end of the trading day.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index was down 0.21 per cent to end at 108.85 points.

It fell a total of 0.7 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Some 22 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth VND225.8 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm.

Source: VIR