An investor looks at stock prices on a smartphone at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City.
Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. 

In its biggest single-session gain in two weeks, the VN-Index surged 1.73 percent to 1,064 points Monday, its highest since April 2018. 

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 343 stocks gain and 112 lose. Trading volume remained high at VND12.62 trillion ($546 million).

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps rose 1.55 percent, with 28 stocks gaining and one losing.

Although the VN30 usually drives gains or losses on the main market, accounting for over half of trading volume each trading day, the stocks attracted only 47 percent of the cash flow, and its gain was less than that of the VN-Index.

Mid-caps were the highlight of this session, when 28 stocks outside the VN30 hit their ceiling prices, the highest they can go in a trading session. Over half of these belonged to companies in construction, steel, manufacturing, and securities.

Analysts have noted that because many blue chips have gained so much in the past few months, investors are diverting their capital into lesser known stocks to find more growth opportunities, but this also means that the market will be more unpredictable in the near future.

On the VN30, the best gainers this session were SSI of top brokerage firm Saigon Securities Inc., up 6.8 percent, SBT of agriculture exporter TTC-Sugar, 5.3 percent, and VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, 4.9 percent.

Oil and gas were some of the best performers. PLX of petroleum retailer Petrolimex was up 2.8 percent, POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, 2.1 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas, 1 percent. VJC of budget carrier VietJet Air climbed 3.9 percent.

State-owned banks also did well. Of Vietnam’s three biggest lenders by assets, VCB of Vietcombank rose 2.8 percent, CTG of VietinBank, 1.9 percent, and BID of BIDV, 1.5 percent. MBB of mid-sized Military Bank added 1.6 percent.

Among private banks, TCB of Techombank gained 2.1 percent, VPB of VPBank, 1.4 percent, STB of Sacombank, 0.9 percent, EIB of Eximbank, 0.6 percent, and HDB of HDBank, 0.4 percent.

Apart from VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, which climbed 2.4 percent, real estate companies were among those at the lower end of the green spectrum. NVL of Novaland was up 0.8 percent, while ROS of FLC Faros and TCH of Hoang Huy Group were up 0.5 percent each.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, gained 2 percent.

Major food and beverage stocks had an average day. VNM of Vinamilk added 0.7 percent, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group kept its opening price, while SAB of major brewer Sabeco shed 0.3 percent.

The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), Vietnam’s second main bourse and home to small and mid-caps, saw its index soar 2.11 percent, and the UPCOM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.93 percent.

Foreign investors turned net sellers this session to the tune of nearly VND460 billion ($19.9 million) on all three bourses. However, their net selling status was primarily a result of a major M&A transaction, the sale of a 24 percent stake in storage and logistics company Transimex, represented by the ticker TMS.

According to filings with the HoSE, the seller was Casco Investments Limited, headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, who sold most of the shares in the transfer via the put-through method, raking in around VND557 billion in the transaction. Casco had been a major shareholder of TMS for over seven years.