HÀ NỘI — The market posted a strong rally on Friday as buying demand returned across major sectors, lifting the VN-Index by nearly 34 points and ending a period of cautious, low-liquidity trading.

After a subdued morning session marked by narrow fluctuations and modest turnover, the market accelerated sharply in the afternoon as buying broadened across the board.

The VN-Index on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HoSE) closed 33.88 points, or 1.95 per cent, higher at 1,768.12 points. Market breadth was strongly positive, with 263 stocks advancing, 70 declining and 45 finishing unchanged.

Liquidity also improved markedly. More than 783.5 million shares changed hands on the southern bourse, with total trading value reaching approximately VNĐ18.36 trillion (US$702 million).

The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) also joined the rally, with the HNX-Index gaining 5.52 points, or 1.98 per cent, to close at 284.07 points.

Large-cap stocks were at the centre of the rebound. The VN30 basket recorded 25 gainers, three unchanged stocks and only two decliners, pushing the VN30-Index up by more than 40 points to around 1,927 points.

Unlike several recent sessions when movements in the benchmark depended heavily on a handful of heavyweight stocks, gains on Friday were spread relatively evenly across leading companies in several major sectors.

Banking stocks were among the strongest contributors. Vietcombank (VCB) rose 2.3 per cent, BIDV (BID) gained 2.9 per cent and VPBank (VPB) advanced 3.2 per cent.

VietinBank (CTG) climbed 2.4 per cent, Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) jumped 3.6 per cent, Techcombank (TCB) added 2.1 per cent and MBBank (MBB) gained 2.7 per cent. The broad advance among banking shares provided substantial support for the benchmark and coincided with stronger buying across the market.

Real estate and industrial heavyweights also performed positively. Vingroup (VIC) gained 1.5 per cent and property developer Vinhomes (VHM) rose 3.2 per cent, while steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) advanced 2.6 per cent.

Foreign trading provided another notable change in market conditions. After six consecutive sessions of net selling, foreign investors reversed course and recorded net purchases exceeding VNĐ42 billion on the two main exchanges.

Friday's rally came just ahead of FTSE Russell's expected announcement of its September review of the FTSE Global Equity Index Series (FTSE GEIS).

The review is drawing particular attention as Việt Nam prepares to begin its transition from frontier-market to secondary emerging-market status from September.

Ahead of the announcement, research teams at several securities companies have published forecasts identifying around 30 Vietnamese stocks that could potentially be included in FTSE GEIS indices.

The official constituent list and expectations surrounding new capital inflows have become closely watched factors for investors as the market approaches the transition.— BIZHUB/VNS