VN-Index climbs to near four-week high

The index stayed in the green throughout the day and closed nearly 19 points higher in the first trading day of the Lunar New Year.

It has gained a total of 58 points in the last five sessions.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, dropped 12.6 percent to VND18.05 trillion ($796.33 million).

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 23 tickers gaining, led by VJC of budget airline Vietjet with a 7 percent rise to the highest in over two months.

HVN of state-owned Vietnam Airlines and Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) also closed 7 percent higher as the government plans to resume international tourism in March.

Energy stocks also gained, with POW of electricity producer Petrovietnam Power Corporation rising 6.3 percent, and GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas closing 5.2 percent higher.

Other gainers included VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank, up 3.8 percent, and MSN of conglomerate Masan Group, up 3.4 percent.

Five blue chip tickers bucked the trend, with VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup losing 6 percent, hitting the lowest in nearly three months.

CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank, BID of state-owned lender BIDV, VPB of private lender VPBankb and TPB of private TPBank all closed in the red.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the fifth straight session to the tune of VND304 billion with focus on VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and KBC of industrial real estate developer Kinh Bac City.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.62 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.97 percent.