Vietnamese shares surged on July 7, surpassing the 1,400-point threshold for the first time since late April 2022.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rose 1.1%, closing the trading day at 1,402.06 points.

This is the index's highest score since late April 2022. The VN-Index extended its growth for the 4th day, achieving a total gain of 1.8%.

Nearly 1.3 billion shares were traded during the day, worth VND28.3 trillion (US$1.1 billion).

Market sentiment improved after the prime minister's directive issued on July 6, requesting that market regulators accelerate the upgrade of the Vietnamese stock market from frontier to emerging status, leading to the 4th-day rally. 

In the directive, the prime minister ordered government agencies to remove all bottlenecks related to proceedings, payments, settlements, market transparency, and benefits for foreign investors.

The market responded positively to the news, with more than 510 stocks advancing and 22 hitting their daily limit of 6.8%.

Financial firms and banks were the best performers, with the two sector indexes up 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively, according to vietstock.vn.

HDBank (HDB) jumped 3.3%; Vietinbank (CTG) 4%; the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) 1.8%; VPBank (VPB) 2.9%; and SSI Securities 1.5%.

Eight of the 10 large-cap stocks with the most positive impact on the VN-Index were banks, including CTG, BID, VPB, Vingroup (VIC), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), and Techcombank (TCB).

These gains offset the poor performance of Vietnam Airlines (HVN), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) insurance company, FPT Retail (FPT), and Petrolimex (PLX).

On the same day, the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index increased 1.5% to close at 235.90.

More than 130 million shares, worth VND2.2 trillion ($84 million), were traded on the northern bourse. Foreign investors net-bought VND1.3 trillion ($50 million) worth of local shares, focusing on SHB, FPT, SSI, HPG, and CTG.

The HNX Index has added a total of 2.2% over the past two trading days (on July 7 and July 4).

Most securities firms were cautious with their forecasts, especially since the VN-Index touched the 1,400-point level again after three years.