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

The VN-Index surged 1.6 percent, or 13.55 points, to 861.16 points Monday, with blue chips driving the market’s gains. 

251 stocks gained and 116 lost on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Total trading volume rose around 20 percent over the previous session, reaching VND4.19 trillion ($181.46 million), but was still far below last month’s average of VND6.67 trillion ($288.86 million).

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps rose even further, gaining 1.72 percent, with 25 stocks in the green and just four in the red.

STB of private lender Sacombank led gains with 5 percent, followed by VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, up 3.9 percent, and CTG of state-owned banking giant VietinBank, up 3.4 percent.

Oil and gas stocks were among the better performers this session. POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power gained 3.3 percent, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas rose 3 percent, and PLX of petroleum distributor, 1 percent.

Stocks of state-owned banks saw some variance, with BID of giant BIDV gaining 2.6 percent and MBB of mid-sized Military Bank adding 0.9 percent, while VCB of giant Vietcombank edged down 0.1 percent.

A similar variance was seen among private banks, with VPB of VPBank rising 3.3 percent and TCB of Techcombank gaining 2.3 percent, while HDB of HDBank kept its opening price and EIB of Eximbank lost 0.3 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the biggest capped stock on the VN30, added 1.3 percent this session, while VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail went up 2.3 percent. Vingroup is also the parent company of Vinhomes, the third largest cap on the VN30.

Other major gainers this session included SSI of top brokerage Saigon Securites Inc., up 3 percent, NVL of real estate developer Novaland, 2.9 percent, MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, 2.2 percent, and NVM of dairy firm Vinamilk, 2.1 percent.

CTD of construction corporation Coteccons topped losses this session with 2.1 percent, ending its streak of three consecutive gaining sessions, two of which saw the ticker hit its ceiling price.

The gains had followed Coteccons’s annual general meeting last Tuesday, when it announced the replacement of two board members with nominees of two major shareholders, with whom the management has had a running battle over conflict of interests since 2017.

The only other losing ticker this session was VJC of budget carrier VietJet Air, down 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 1.36 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.39 percent.

Foreign investors turned net buyers to the tune of VND33 billion ($1.43 million) on all three bourses, with buying pressure mostly on VHM of Vinhomes and VNM of Vinamilk.