The index had dipped to 1,236.8 in the first 17 minutes of trading and fluctuated for the next hour before gradually rising for the rest of the trading session and closing with an increase of nearly 18 points, the biggest gain in the last nine sessions.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 214 stocks lose and 207 gain, with transaction volume growing 3.1 percent to VND23.1 trillion, the highest of the past 16 sessions.

The VN30 basket, comprising the index’s 30 largest capped stocks, saw 23 tickers gain and seven lose.

The top gainer was MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, hitting its ceiling price with a 6.95 percent gain and pulling the index up by over two points.

VNM of diary giant Vinamilk was the second biggest gainer this session with 6.9 percent, contributing most to the VN-Index’s gain this session with 3.3 points. This was its biggest gain since January 29.

TPB of private lender TPBank rose 6.87 percent, its second gaining session in the row, hitting a new historic peak.

FPT of IT giant FPT rose 3.4 percent. It has grown 45 percent since the start of this year.

Major tickers losing in this session included NVL of real estate developer Novaland Group, down 5.4 percent; PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, down 2 percent; and MWG of SBT of sugar producer Thanh Thanh Cong – Bien Hoa, down 1.6 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the first time in six sessions to the tune of VND89.8 billion ($3.87 million). Their purchases were focused on CTG of state-owned lender Vietinbank, KBC of industrial real estate developer Kinh Bac City and VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, was up 0.15 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went down by a marginal 0.01 percent.