HÀ NỘI — The market finished higher on Thursday, with the VN-Index surging nearly 40 points as buying momentum accelerated late in the session, lifting large-cap stocks and spreading across most sectors while foreign investors returned to net buying.

The VN-Index, representing the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE), soared 39.98 points, or 2.35 per cent, to 1,744.66 points. This marked its third straight rally session. 

Breadth of the market remained positive as gainers outnumbered decliners by 277 to 58. Liquidity on the southern bourse increased sharply by over 40 per cent from the previous trade to VNĐ20.2 trillion (US$771 million). 

The 30 biggest stocks tracker, VN30-Index, also gained 37.15 points, or 2 per cent, to 1,886.27 points. Up to 28 ticker symbols on the VN30 basket climbed, while only one went down and one finished flat. 

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index rose 2.27 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 275.05 points. 

Buying interest spread across all major sectors, with securities, retail, oil and gas, banking and technology stocks leading gains.

Data compiled by a financial website, vietstock.vn, showed that Vinhomes (VHM) made the largest contribution to the benchmark, adding over 7 points to the VN-Index. VHM closed at VNĐ147,900 per share, up 5.64 per cent.

Another Vingroup-related stock, Vincom Retail (VRE), also performed strongly, rising to its daily ceiling price.

The session also saw a broad rally in stocks associated with businessman Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, with VIX Securities (VIX), Gelex Group (GEX) and Gelex Electric (GE)L all hitting their daily upper trading limits. Among them, VIX was the market's most actively traded stock, with nearly 76.2 million shares changing hands.

Investor sentiment was further supported by a return of foreign capital. Overseas investors recorded net purchases of VNĐ677.28 billion on the HoSE, reversing six consecutive sessions of net selling.

The latest advance marked the market's third consecutive gain. However, historical trading patterns since the beginning of the second quarter show that rallies have often alternated with corrections, resulting in relatively fragile momentum.

Several securities firms also pointed to fresh external risks after the US Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged.

Phạm Lưu Hưng, chief economist and head of research at SSI Research, said investors should closely monitor the possibility of another Fed rate hike in the fourth quarter.

The pressure on the exchange rate is not yet significant because the US dollar remains relatively weak. However, international capital flows could become more sensitive as September marks Vietnam's official upgrade to FTSE Russell's Emerging Market classification, Hưng said. VNS