Investors study stock prices at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City.
Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. 

Most blue chips gained Friday, pushing up Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index to 1351.74 points a boost of more than 28 points, the biggest increase since February 17. 

The index slipped to around 1,322 points 15 minutes into trading, and gradually rose throughout the rest of the session, closing up 2.13 percent.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, slipped 6.2 percent to VND23.76 trillion ($1.03 billion). The bourse saw 293 stocks gain and 104 lose.

The VN30 basket comprising the largest 30 capped stocks, was predominantly green with 26 gainers.

CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank experienced a ceiling increase of 6.9 percent after the State Bank of Vietnam allowed it to hike its charter capital by 29 percent Friday morning.

The ticker was the top contributor to the index’s growth, pushing it up by nearly 3.5 points.

SSI of brokerage SSI Securities Corporation rose 6.6 percent, its third consecutive session in the green. The ticker has increased over 51 percent so far this year.

STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank jumped 5.5 percent, while HDB of private lender HDBank shot up 5.4 percent.

Other big gainers were PDR of real estate firm Phat Dat Real Estate Development and TCB of biggest private lender Techcombank, both rising 5 percent.

In the opposite direction, SBT of sugar producer Thanh Thanh Cong – Bien Hoa JSC dropped 1.8 percent, while VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk fell 0.2 percent, and VPB of private lender VPBank was down 0.1 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the second session in a row to the tune of VND610 billion, with purchases focused on PLX of fuel distributor Petrolimex, VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, and KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, was up 1.72 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 2.02 percent.