The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 185 stocks gaining and 203 losing.
Total trading volume plummeted nearly 30 percent over the previous session, to VND6.5 trillion ($28044 million), slightly below last month's daily average of VND6.6 trillion per session. However, this was still much higher than trading levels seen on the main bourse in the last few years.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic shook Vietnam's equity markets, daily trading volume usually hovered between VND3-4 trillion, while in quiet periods, such as the month before Lunar New Year, as well as when Vietnam first closed off its borders in February as a pandemic response, trading could go as low as VND2 trillion per day.
The VN30-Index for the market's 30 largest caps gained 039 percent, with 14 tickers closing up and 12 closing down.
Topping gains was MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, nearly hitting its ceiling price with a 6.6 percent increase. The ticker is currently one of the best performing on the VN30 on its seventh straight gaining session, up 27 percent compared to October 2.
According to analysts, there has not been any recent official announcements from Masan Group nor major financial disclosures made by the conglomerate to explain the consecutive sessions of gains. MSN had remained mostly flat in September, but now is registering over four times its normal trading volume that month, and is trading at VND74800 a share, a ten-month peak, they observed.
Most banking stocks were in the green this session. Of Vietnam's three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, CTG of VietinBank surged 5 percent, while both BID of BIDV and VCB of Vietcombank gained 0.7 percent.
Of private banks, EIB of Eximbank rose 1.2 percent, STB of Sacombank 1.1 percent, and TCB of Techcombank gained 0.2 percent.
VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup and VHM of its real estate subsidiary Vinhomes, the largest and third largest caps on the VN30 added 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
In oil and gas, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex both kept their opening prices, while POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power shed 1 percent.
The biggest losing stocks this session were SAB of major brewer Sabeco, down 2.2 percent, SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., down 1.7 percent, and HDB of private HDBank with 1.4 percent.
In real estate and construction, KDH of Khang Dien House dropped 1 percent, NVL of Novaland 0.8 percent, and ROS of FLC Faros shed 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, added 018 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market edged down 006 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers for the 14th consecutive session to the tune of VND36 billion on all three bourses. The most net sold stocks were MSN of Masan Group and BID of BIDV.
