The benchmark index advanced 0.9 percent to closethe first trading day of the new lunar year at a new nine-year high of 703.18points. It has rallied a total of 3 percent after the last five sessions.
Market trading liquidity fell from the previoussession with more than 86.4 million shares being traded, worth 2.06 trillionVND (91.84 million USD). The figures were 12 percent and 1.6 percent lower intrading volume and value, respectively.
The southern market was lifted after listedcompanies such as private equity firm Masan Group (MSN), Eximbank (EIB), Bankfor Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and HCM City InfrastructureInvestment JSC (CII) announced their 2016 profits.
MSN gained 2.3 percent after Masan reported thatits revenue for 2016 increased 41 percent year on year to nearly 43.3 trillionVND and net profit rose 44 percent from 2015 to 4.54 trillion VND.
EIB surged 7 percent after the bank recorded anet profit of 308.9 billion VND for 2016, which was nearly eight times that of2015, thanks to 150 billion VND profit made in the fourth quarter last year.
CII added 2 percent after the southerninfrastructure developer released its 2016 financial report. Last year, thecompany recorded a post-tax profit of 1 trillion VND, which increased 28 percentover the previous year and exceeded last year’s target by 20 percent.
Other blue chips also made gains to support themarket. PetroVietnam Gas edged up 0.7 percent as oil prices remained positiveon global trading.
Brent crude rose 0.8 percent to trade at 57.25USD a barrel, lifting its gain to a third day with total growth of 3.6 percent.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX Indexinched up 0.2 percent to finish at 84.64 points. The northern market index hasincreased by total 2 percent in the last three days.
More than 16.6 million shares were traded on thenorthern bourse, worth 172.25 billion VND. The trading figures fell 39 percentand 35 percent, respectively, compared to the previous session.-VNA