Foreign investors net buyers for fifth straight session

The index struggled to break off the 1,480 range and closed 0.15 points higher after falling nine points Wednesday. This was its fourth session in the green in the last five sessions.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, fell 13.6 percent to VND22.03 trillion ($966.23 million).

Foreign investors were net buyers for the fifth straight session to the tune of VND617 billion, with strongest buying pressure on VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 14 tickers in the red with POW of electricity producer Petrovietnam Power Corporation falling 3.1 percent in its third session in the red.

KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House lost 1.7 percent, and TPB of private TPBank fell 1.5 percent.

Two state-owned lenders followed: VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank dropped 1.4 percent while CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank fell 1 percent.

Twelve blue chip tickers gained, with SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation rising 5.9 percent to its highest point since December 20.

STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank rose 3.4 percent to its highest value in over a month.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.83 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.72 percent.