An investor looks at stock prices on a smartphone at
a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. 

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index surged 1.3 percent to 1,320.46 points Friday, a new peak, with trading volume hitting the year’s highest. 

The index dipped to 1,300 points but quickly recovered and shot up to the 1,320 range before closing with a nearly 17-point increase, the biggest gain in a day during the past 14 sessions.

This is a recovery from the 13-point plunge Thursday. VN-Index has gained 19.6 percent this year, and has closed in the green in seven of the last eight sessions.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 2.9 percent to VND24.79 trillion ($1.07 billion). The bourse saw 290 tickers gaining and 124 losing.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 23 tickers in the green, led by STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank with a ceiling increase of 6.9 percent to a new peak.

This is its fifth gaining session in a row, having risen 88 percent this year.

It was followed by SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, up 5.6 percent to a new peak. The ticker has gained 26 percent this year.

BID of state-owned lender BIDV rose 3.9 percent to the highest since Jan. 18. The ticker, however, has fallen 6.6 percent since the beginning of the year.

Other strong gainers include MBB of Military Bank, up 3.3 percent, and SBT of sugar producer Thanh Thanh Cong – Bien Hoa, up 3.1 percent.

Six blue-chip tickers ended in the red, led by BVH of insurance company Bao Viet Holdings, down 1.1 percent, and VJC of budget airline Vietjet, down 0.9 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the third session in a row to the tune of VND17.2 trillion with strongest pressure on PLX of fuel distributor Petrolimex and MSN of conglomerate Masan Group.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 1.97 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 2.41 percent.