A Sacombank employee talking to a customer. The bank's shares hit the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent in the last trading session of the week. Photo courtesy of Sacombank

HÀ NỘI — The market closed higher on strong cash inflows, with the market benchmark VN-Index up nearly 17 points.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index jumped 16.89 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 1,320.46 points. The market breadth was positive with 290 stocks climbing, while 124 stocks fell and 47 stocks ended flat. 

The liquidity was also high as local investors poured nearly VNĐ24.8 trillion into the southern market, equivalent to a trading volume of over 768.8 million shares. 

Gains in large-cap stocks were still the main driving force for the market's rally. The VN30-Index, which tracks 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, settled 1.49 per cent higher to finish the week at 1,458.78 points.

Of the VN30 basket, twenty-three stocks increased while only six dropped and one stayed unchanged. 

"The VN-index is still heading toward the strong resistance territory of 1,350 - 1,380 points after breaking over the resistance zone of around 1,285 points," Trần Xuân Bách, senior stock analyst from Bảo Việt Securities Company, said in a daily report to investors. 

However, the market may face corrections during its upward path to the target zone. It is still likely to witness strong divisions between stock lines and sectors will alternately gain points during this period, Bách added. 

He recommended investors should keep the stock proportion in their portfolios at 55 - 65 per cent. Investors may consider opening long positions in the short term when the market fluctuates. 

Bank stocks were still leading the market's trend yesterday. Of which, JSC Bank For Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV, BID) was the biggest gainer with a rise of 3.85 per cent. 

It was followed by Techcombank (TCB), Sacombank (STB) and Vietinbank (CTG). These stocks all posted increases of more than 1 per cent, with STB hitting the maximum daily gain of 7 per cent. 

Many other bank stocks also jumped more than 1 per cent such as VPBank (VPB), MBBank (MBB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB).

Stocks in material and utilities sectors also contributed to the market's bullish sentiment. Masan Group (MSN), Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR) and PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS) all inched up more than 2 per cent.

On Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 1.97 per cent to close Friday at 310.46 points. It was also supported by big stocks' appeal. The HNX30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks on HNX, climbed 3.25 per cent to 476.11 points. 

During the session, nearly 171.4 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth over VNĐ4 trillion. 

Foreign investors were still net buyers on both exchanges as they net bought a value of VNĐ17.21 billion on HoSE and a value of VNĐ11.32 billion on HNX. VNS