The index closed up 10.68 points at 1,701.67. But liquidity fell, with matched orders totaling about 520 million shares, down nearly 18% from the previous session (last Friday).

Market breadth remained weak, as 178 stocks declined compared with 135 gainers. Midcap and small-cap indices fell 0.57% and 0.29% respectively, while the large-cap VN30 index advanced 0.5%. VN30 represents 30 largest market cap stocks on the HoSE.

VIC (Vingroup) contributed the most to the VN-Index’s upward move with 8.27 points, followed by VPL of Vinpearl (2.7 points), VHM of Vinhomes (2.59 points), and GEE of Gelex Electricity JSC (1.13 points).

VPL hit its ceiling and ended the session with no sellers. On the downside, TCB of Techcombank, CTG of VietinBank, HVN of Vietnam Airlines, and GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group - JSC were the biggest drags, subtracting between 0.5 and 0.8 points each.

Consumer services stocks posted the strongest gains thanks to VPL’s ceiling-price rally, though liquidity in other gainers such as RIC and VLA remained low.

Real estate stocks also advanced but showed clear divergence: VIC, VHM and VRE rose, while NVL, KDH, TCH, PDR, DXG and CEO closed lower.

Sector divergence was also seen across banking, securities, chemicals, steel and seaport stocks.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND298.48 billion ($11.32 million), led by VIC (VND158.95 billion), VHM (VND69.65 billion), VCB (VND64.76 billion), and HDB (VND46.11 billion).

Net buying focused on FPT (VND93.61 billion), MSN (VND90.64 billion), VNM (VND65.79 billion), and VPL (VND61.06 billion).

PYN Elite (Finland), one of the largest foreign funds in the Vietnamese stock market, has revised up its forecast for the benchmark VN-Index to 3,200 points.

"When we picked Vietnam PYN Elite’s country allocation about 10 years ago, we set a long-term index target to 2,500 points for the Vietnamese market," portfolio manager Petri Deryng wrote in a release on November 27.

The key considerations for the decision to raise that VN-Index target to 3,200 points are: Vietnam’s new administration is steering the country decisively toward a higher level of prosperity, and the public mega projects will drive this new strong growth era and accelerate private-sector investments.

"Simultaneously, the modernization of Vietnam’s financial markets is advancing rapidly, and banks’ loan growth is being actively supported. In summa summarum, these policies create even more favorable conditions for Vietnam’s economic expansion and for companies’ robust earnings growth," wrote Deryng.