Shares rose on the Hochiminh Exchange with significant inflow of speculative capital, but fell on the northern bourse on June 26.

The VN-Index added 4.13 points or as much as 0.72 percent to end at 576.4 points, supported by gains of stocks in the VN30 package with advancers overwhelming decliners by 15-7. The index, tracking the performance of the largest stocks by market value and liquidity, edged up 0.29 percent to 619.91 points.

However, on the Hanoi Exchange, the selling pressure dragged down the benchmark indices with the HNX-Index losing 0.51 percent to 77.35 points and the HNXFF-Index, composed of stocks with minimum free float rate of 5 per, falling by 0.4 percent to end at 77.79 points.

On the southern bourse, FLC Group, a property company, was the market highlight on the day, thank to its promising profits in the first half of this year. The stock was in high demand, and that pushed the value 6.5 percent higher than its ceiling price of 11,400 VND (54 US cents) a share with significant trading volume of 22.23 million shares.

Market pillars ended mixed as PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS) and Vinamilk (VNM) posted gains while Masan Group (MSN) and Vingroup (VIC) shed value which narrowed down market gains.

Speculative stocks attracted capital inflow on June 26, boosting the southern bourse's liquidity. Nearly 124 million shares were changing hands on the southern bourse, worth 1.99 trillion VND (94.7 million USD), 24 percent higher than the previous trading session.

On the Hanoi Exchange, with 57.5 million shares traded, the trading value reached 633 billion VND (30.1 million USD), slightly lower than the previous day. Tracking large-cap stocks, the HNX30-Index fell 0.2 percent to end at 155.82 points.

Foreign investors bought heavily into HAG and ITA with more than 1 million shares purchased.

They purchased a net 130 billion VND (6.1 million USD) shares.

VCB Securities' report indicated that the Vietnam stock market had an attractive price-earnings ratio in comparison with other markets in the region, which appealed to foreign investors.

According to FPT Securities, information related to the first half of the year's profits of companies helped attract the capital inflow and some stocks witnessed excessive buying.

The VN-Index would be challenged at 580 points, the company said, adding that investors should remain cautious with short-term profit booking activities.-VNA