The first session after the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday saw steady growth with an increase of 40.85 points, taking the index to a three-week high.

Reports of new Covid-19 cases during the holiday that resulted in a social distancing order in the northern province of Hai Duong, and the death in Hanoi of a Japanese man who tested positive for the novel coronavirus did not have a major impact on stock market investors. Trading volume on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 4 percent over the previous session to VND13.9 trillion ($510.93 million).

The HoSE, on which the VN-Index is based, saw 425 stocks gain and 43 lose.

All tickers in the VN30-Index, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, ended in green, led by VRE of retail arm Vincom Retail with a 7 percent rise, followed by GAS of the state-owned PetroVietnam Gas Jsc and VPB of private VPBank, both up 6.9 percent.

Other strong blue chip gainers included TCB of largest private lender Techcombank, up 6.7 percent, MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World and SBT of sugar producer Thanh Thanh Cong – Bien Hoa Jsc, both up 6.6 percent.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 2.52 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 2.6 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers to the tune of over VND704 billion after net selling in previous two sessions. Their top purchases included VRE, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes.