Stocks reach five-month peak

An investor looks at stock prices on a screen at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index rose 1.26% to 1,224.97 points Monday, highest since Sep. 20.

The index closed 15.27 points higher after gaining 7.20 points in the previous session. It has risen six sessions straight.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange increased by 36% to VND24.75 trillion ($1 billion).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 21 tickers gained and 9 fell.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail both went up 6.9%.

VHM of property giant Vinhomes gained 6.7% and POW of electricity producer Petrovietnam Power Corporation closed 4.3% higher.

Nine blue chips fell, including six banks. SSB of SeABank closed 0.9% lower and TPB of private TPBank dropped 0.5%.

Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND137 billion, mainly buying BHI of Saigon – Hanoi Insurance Corporation and VHM of property giant Vinhomes.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.14%, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went up 0.43%.