Investors at Bảo Việt Securities Co's headquarters in Hà Nội. The company's shares hit the daily growth limit of 10 per cent yesterday on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange. VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

HÀ NỘI — Shares advanced on Thursday after a slight drop in the previous session, boosted by strong growth of brokerage companies.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index increased 0.61 per cent to close the trade at 1,417.08 points. The southern market’s index inched down 0.1 per cent on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange gained 0.74 per cent to end the day at 325.72 points. The northern market’s index also lost 0.1 per cent on Wednesday.

The market breadth was positive with 312 gainers, 257 losers and 138 unchanged on the two markets.

Market liquidity was high with 910 million shares worth VNĐ29.9 trillion (US$1.3 billion) traded, up 30 per cent in volume and 27.5 per cent in value compared to Wednesday’s levels.

The securities industry led the market with an average growth of more than 5 per cent, according to data on vietstock.vn. Many shares hit the intra-day maximum growth, including Vietinbank Securities (CTS), Bảo Việt Securities (BVS), BIDV Securities (BSI), Agribank Securities (AGR) and MB Securities (MBS).

Of which, AGR’s liquidity increased substantially to more than 11 million shares, the highest in the past year, following information that its estimated six-month profit before tax reached VNĐ160 billion, up 132 per cent compared to the same period last year and exceeding the profit plan for the whole year.

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), the biggest brokerage house on the stock market, also gained 4.5 per cent, closing Thursday at VNĐ57,500 ($2.48) per share, setting a new record high since going public.

On Thursday, the liquidity of all securities groups reached more than VNĐ2.7 trillion and was also net bought by foreign investors.

Besides securities, the building materials industry, which represents the two big names – Hòa Phát Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) – also performed positively. HPG increased by 4.5 per cent and HSG rose 1.7 per cent.

Blue chips maintained growth momentum on Thursday as 22 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity gained value and only seven declined.

Ending June, Việt Nam’s stock market was the second best performer in the world with a six-month growth of 27.6 per cent, only behind Saudi Arabia’s Adu Dhabi Index. The market capitalisation also increased more than 29 per cent while the trading value soared 146 per cent compared to the same period of 2020.

According to KB Securities Vietnam (KBSC), Việt Nam’s stock market is predicted to sustain its growth in the latter half of this year, propped up by recovery in production and business activities of listed companies, especially the large-cap firms in banking, steel, securities, utilities and IT.

However, a correction phase may happen in the second half of the third quarter when the positive effects from the second quarter business results reporting season are over, analysts at KBSC said in a note. — VNS