Vietnam stock market reaches new historic peak

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index surged 2.07 percent to a new historic peak of 1,216.10 points Thursday, driven by Vingroup and Vietcombank tickers.

The index rose throughout the day after breaking the 2018 peak of 1,204 points in the morning. It continued to surge in the afternoon and ended with a near 25-point gain.

This is its biggest daily gain in six weeks. The index has ended in the green four sessions in a row.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, surged 16 percent to VND16.94 trillion ($735 million). The bourse saw 334 stocks gain and 106 lose.

VIC of the biggest conglomerate Vingroup contributed most to the VN-Index gain with 4.6 points. The ticker rose 4.3 percent, its seventh gaining session in a row, up by a total 15 percent since March 23.

VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank pulled the index up by 2.1 points with volume tripling from Wednesday to rise 2.2 percent.

Other major contributors included HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, together pushing the index up by 4.4 points.

The strongest blue-chip gainer was SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation with a ceiling increase of 6.9 percent, followed by TCH of real estate company Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services JSC with a 5.9 percent gain.

Foreign investors broke off four consecutive net selling sessions with a net buying value of VND45 billion. They focused on VIC, HPG and STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank, which surged 17 percent in the last six sessions.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, surged 2 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.37 percent.