The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 292 stocks gain and 138 lose.

Trading volume continued to remain at historically high levels, reaching VND14.34 trillion ($614.7 million). At the same time last year, before Covid-19 began affecting markets, the daily trading volume was just VND4-5 trillion.

Analysts say low interest rates, a stagnant real estate market, and poor commercial activity during the final month of the year will continue to spur investment in stocks in the near future.

The highlight of Monday’s session was the performance of securities companies, with SSI of Saigon Securities Inc., VND of VNDirect, CTS of VietinBank Securities, HBS of Hoa Binh Securities, SHS of Saigon-Hanoi Securities and several more hitting their ceiling prices, the highest they could go in a trading session.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps rose 1.26 percent while accounting for 45 percent of trading this session. Twenty-one tickers gained and four lost.

Topping gains were EIB of private bank Eximbank, up 7 percent, and SSI of Saigon Securities Inc., up 6.9 percent, both of which closed at their maximum price range this session.

Other private banks did well too. HDB of HDBank rose 5.3 percent, VPB of VPBank, 4.3 percent and TCB of Techcombank, up 0.7 percent. STB of Sacombank kept its opening price.

State-owned banks saw more modest gains, with BID of BIDV up 1 percent, VCB of Vietcombank, 0.8 percent, CTG of VietinBank, 0.7 percent and MBB of mid-sized Military Bank, 0.6 percent.

Other major gainers included VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes was up 2.1 percent, VIC of its parent corporation and Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, up 1.6 percent, and GAS of state-owned energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, 1.6 percent.

In the red this session were SAB of major brewer Sabeco, which shed 0.9 percent, ROS of constructor FLC Faros, down 0.5 percent, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, 0.4 percent, and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, down 0.1 percent.

The HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-caps, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Companies Market rose this session by 2.88 percent and 0.97 percent, respectively.

Foreign investors continued to be net buyers, to the tune of VND150 billion on all three bourses this session, with net buying pressure mostly on HPG of Hoa Phat Group, VCB of Vietcombank, and the FUEVFVND, an exchange traded fund replicating the performance of stocks on the VN Diamond Index.

The VN Diamond Index is a group of 14 stocks, which includes blue chips such as TCB, VPB, MBB, MWG, PNJ, CTG and FPT. The basket of stocks, selected based on their free-float capitalization, was introduced by HoSE last November, and the FUEVFVND began trading on May 12 this year.