The index stayed in the green throughout the day and closed with a near 12-point gain. In the last five sessions, it has increased by 3.5 percent, or 45 points.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, shot up 15 percent to VND28.22 trillion ($1.24 billion), the highest in the past nine sessions.

The positive reaction from the market came after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called for an economic recovery plan and stressed the lockdown strategy cannot go on forever.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s Covid epicenter with 251,400 cases recorded since the end of April, have also said the city would gradually resume economic activities and live with the virus.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 23 tickers in the green Monday, led by KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House, up 4.2 percent.

HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group gained 4.1 percent to the highest since July 5. Its trading volume nearly doubled from the average of the last 10 sessions.

FPT of IT giant FPT Corporation rose 2.7 percent to the highest since Aug. 11.

Other gainers included HDB of HDBank, up 2.7 percent, GAS of state-owned Petrovietnam Gas, up 2 percent and TPB of private TPBank, 1.8 percent.

Six blue chip tickers fell, led by GVR of Vietnam Rubber Group and SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, both down 2 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the seventh straight session to the tune of VND292 billion, with strongest pressure on VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.64 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.69 percent.