The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, was a sea of green with 380 stocks gaining and 75 losing. Of these, 31 stocks hit their ceiling prices, the highest they could go in a trading session.

Apart from sessions were major M&A put-through transactions occurred, the HoSE has never seen so much trading in a day, with liquidity at VND16.25 trillion ($705.58 million).

The HoSE had also just raised its standard lot to 100 from 50 shares, a change which took effect this session, allowing more shares to change hands with less orders placed.

The bourse had run into technical problems in the final weeks of the year when trading volume surged to historic highs, hitting VND12-14 trillion a session.

Trading had stopped as the system struggled to deal with the sheer number of orders placed, often freezing when trading volume hit around VND14 trillion a day.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s largest caps did better than the rest of the market, gaining 1.97 percent with 26 tickers in the green and two in the red.

Private banks were the best performers this session, with VPB of VPBank gaining 5.2 percent, TCB of Techcombank 4.8 percent, and STB of Sacombank 3.8 percent.In the same group, HDB of HDBank added 1.5 percent, and EIB of Eximbank, 1.3 percent.

State-owned banks were also some of the best gainers. MBB of mid-sized Military Bank was up 4.1 percent, while tickers of Vietnam’s three largest lenders by assets, CTG of VietinBank, VCB of Vietcombank and BID of BIDV rose 2.7 percent, 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.

In oil and gas, POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power was up 3.7 percent, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas 2.5 percent, and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex 0.5 percent. VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, related to sector performance, also added 0.6 percent.

Other major gainers included REE of appliances maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering, up 2.8 percent, VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes, 2.8 percent, SAB of brewer Sabeco, 2.3 percent and HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, with 2.1 percent.

Apart from Vinhomes, the real estate and construction sector saw the most modest performance on the VN30. NVL of Novaland topped losses with 1.4 percent, KDH of Khang Dien House added 0.2 percent, ROS of FLC Faros 0.4 percent, and TCH of Hoang Huy Group, 0.5 percent.

The HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid-and small-caps, added 1.56 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Companies Market both shed 0.34 percent.

Foreign investors turned net sellers to the tune of VND370 billion on all three bourses, with selling pressure mostly on VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, up 0.5 percent, MBB of Military Bank, and CTG of VietinBank.