HÀ NỘI — The stock market opened the new week on a positive note, largely thanks to the strong performance of mid- and small-cap stocks.

Although the market came under pressure from blue-chip shares and the VN-Index at one point slipped to 1,625 points in the afternoon session, the resilience of banking stocks, along with mid- and small-caps, helped the benchmark index close Monday higher.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index gained 6.37 points, or 0.39 per cent, to finish at 1,636.37 points.

Market breadth leaned towards gainers, with 199 stocks rising against 130 decliners. Liquidity fell by 24.2 per cent compared to last Friday, down to about VNĐ45 trillion (equivalent to $1.7 billion).

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 largest listed companies by market capitalisation and liquidity, also edged up 3.12 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 1,786.37 points. Within the VN30 basket, 12 stocks advanced, 17 declined and one remained unchanged.

Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) was the market’s top contributor, with its shares climbing 2.89 per cent and adding more than 1.7 points to the VN-Index.

Other notable gainers included Bình Sơn Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR), which hit its daily ceiling with a 7 per cent jump, VIX Securities JSC (VIX), which surged 6.63 per cent, and LienVietPostBank (LPB), which rose by 2.82 per cent.

On the losing side, Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBB) dropped 1.59 per cent, VietinBank (CTG) slipped 1.02 per cent and Vinpearl JSC (VPL) shed 1.57 per cent.

Lê Đức Huy, Head of Market Strategy at Agribank Securities, forecast that during the new trading week (August 18–22), the VN-Index would likely fluctuate between 1,615 and 1,650 points as it absorbs profit-taking pressure. He noted that after this consolidation, the index was expected to resume its upward trend, heading towards a new peak of 1,680–1,700 points.

Huy said: “The market has risen 50 per cent from its bottom in just four months, with real estate, banking and securities leading the rally. After such a strong run, leading blue chips typically take a pause or undergo corrections.”

He added that cash flow was currently being allocated across both groups of stocks with different investment profiles, reflecting investors’ trade-off between profit expectations and risk tolerance.

On the northern bourse, the HNX-Index increased by 1.53 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 283.87 points. Trading value on the Hà Nội exchange reached VNĐ3.4 trillion, with more than 150 million shares changing hands. — VNS