A shopper purchases essential goods at a supermarket in HCM City. — VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Surging trade at the close lifted the VN-Index despite most Asian shares slumping on Thursday.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index increased 1.02 per cent to close the day at 1,374.85 points. The southern bourse’s index decreased slightly in the two previous sessions.

Large caps in the VN30 basket (which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity) gained value in the last trading minutes. The most influential stocks included Vingroup (VIC) which climbed more than 6 per cent; Vietcombank (VCB), up 1.8 per cent; Vinhomes (VHM), up 0.9 per cent; steelmaker Hòa Phát Group (HPG), up 1 per cent; Masan Group (MSN), up 1.3 per cent; Vietnam Rubber Group (GVR), up 3.3 per cent; and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), up 4.2 per cent.

According to market insiders, Thursday is the expiration date for listed derivative contracts so the market saw significant fluctuations in the VN30 shares.

The VN30 Index increased 1.04 per cent to 1,505 points but the VN30F2108 closed five points lower than VN30 at 1,500 points.

Besides large-caps, money was also poured into shares of securities firms, property developers and chemical-plastic manufacturers. These sectors increased by an average of more than 2 per cent on Thursday, according to data on the vietstock.vn.

Liquidity was good with more than 728 million shares worth VNĐ25.5 trillion (US$1.1 billion) traded here, up around 5 per cent in both volume and value compared to the previous session.

However, prolonged net selling by foreign traders cast a shadow on the market. Foreigners continued to offload shares worth a net value of VNĐ669 billion in the HCM City market. Their sales focused on SSI (VNĐ703 billion) and Novaland Investment (VNĐ110 billion).

However, this value was still lower than the previous two sessions with a total net sell value of VNĐ1.4 trillion on Tuesday and VNĐ1.9 trillion on Wednesday.

According to BIDV Securities Co, though foreign investors continued to be strong net sellers, the current high liquidity will strengthen the supportive force of the market.

Meanwhile, analysts at Agribank Securities Co advised investors to avoid disbursing in large-caps which have increased substantially, especially stocks that are being sold by foreign investors and exchange-traded funds to minimise risks in the short term.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.36 points to 346.07 points. The northern bourse’s index increased 0.5 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 165 million shares worth VNĐ4.1 trillion were exchanged on Hà Nội’s bourse on Thursday.

Foreign traders turned to be net buyers here, picking up shares worth a net buy value of VNĐ247 billion. – VNS