The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 220 tickers gain and 184 lose. Total trading volume reached a week-long high of VND7.72 trillion ($331.41 million).

Like the previous session Friday when it rose 0.77 percent, the index had immediately shot up by approximately 6 points within the first 30 minutes of trading and stayed in the green throughout the whole trading day.

According to securities firm BSC, the VN-Index could make a breakthrough this week to reach 915-920 points after hovering just below the 900-point resistance level last week.

The government’s imminent commencement of a tourism stimulus program for the economy is also expected to give stocks in related industries such as aviation, tourism and entertainment a boost, allowing them to continue their upwards momentum in the coming weeks, the BSC said in its latest report.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps this session rose 1.22 percent, with 25 tickers rising and three falling. These 30 stocks accounted for just over 50 percent of trading volume this session, unlike most of last month when investors were focused on non-blue chips.

Topping gains was MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, up 4.1 percent, followed by HDB of private HDBank, up 3.2 percent, VNM of dairy firm Vinamilk, up 2.9 percent and TCB of private Techcombank, up 2.3 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, climbed 2.1 percent, while VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail added 1.6 percent, and VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes rose 0.3 percent.

Oil and gas stocks were all positive this session, with POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power adding 1 percent, PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex 0.6 percent and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas 0.4 percent.

Other major gainers included SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, up 1.8 percent, MBB of state-owned lender Military Bank, 1.6 percent, and SSI of top brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., 1.2 percent.

Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets were some of the poorer performers this session. BID of BIDV and CTG of VietinBank went down 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, while VCB of Vietcombank rose by a marginal 0.1 percent.

ROS of construction firm FLC Faros, down 0.5 percent, was among the big losers.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, added 1.07 percent; and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.25 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers to the tune of VND110 billion ($4.74 million) on all three bourses. The most net bought stocks were PLX of Petrolimex and VNM of Vinamilk.