Shares shook sharply on November 21’s afternoon trade under increased profit-taking activity but still closed higher thanks to solid investor confidence in the market outlook.

An investor on the MB Securities (MBS) trading floor

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rallied 1.63 percent to end on November 21 at 918.30 points after rising as high as 930 points in early afternoon trade. This was the highest score since January 2, 2018.

Vietnamese shares have been bullish since the start of the year with the benchmark VN-Index expanding over 38 percent.

Large-cap stocks continued to be the major supporter behind the market’s rally. The top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity (VN30) gained 1.25 percent with major advancers including brewer Sabeco (SAB), up 4.4 percent; Vietcombank (VCB), up 3.8 percent; Petrolimex (PLX), up 5.4 percent; and Masan Group (MSN), up 5.6 percent.

VinGroup (VIC) and its retail arm Vincom Retail (VRE) extended their gains. While VRE again hit the daily limit rise of 7 percent on the day, VIC slowed down its growth to just 0.9 percent. Market value of these two companies soared to total 14 billion USD on the day.

The biggest listed stock Vinamilk (VNM) also rose over 1 percent.

Overall, 116 stocks advanced while 151 declined. Another 79 closed flat.

According to BIDV Securities Co (BSC), cash on November 21 was quite strong but focused in large caps as well as potential sectors such as banks and securities.

Over 230 million shares worth nearly 6.5 trillion VND (285 million USD) were traded on the HCM Stock Exchange, up 31 percent in volume and 14 percent in value compared to the previous session.

“The market is in an uptrend and there is no resistance when the expectation of the index increasing is becoming stronger,” BSC’s analysts wrote in a report on November 21.

Foreign investors returned as net buyers on the southern market after net selling the day ago. They picked up shares worth net value of 43.5 billion VND.

In contrast, shares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange declined for a second day with the HNX-Index inching down 0.08 percent at 108.02 points. The northern market index lost 0.2 percent on November 20.

About 50 million shares worth 690 million VND (30.3 million USD) were exchanged here.-VNA