Shares advanced slightly on both national stock exchanges on February 7, providing a positive thrust before the market closes for the 9-day Lunar New Year holiday beginning February 9.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rose 0.46 percent to close at 490.62 points, while the VN30, trading the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, was also up 0.27 percent to 571.59 points.

Without support from foreign buyers, trading remained brisk with the volume of trades growing 12.3 percent on the previous day, to total 73 million shares worth almost 1.17 trillion VND (35.6 million USD).

Foreign investors were net sellers on the market, unloading shares worth 185.6 billion VND (8.9 million USD). Most of their offloads stemmed from the blue chip sector, led by food giant Masan Group ( MSN ), which saw net sales of 183.6 billion VND (8.8 million USD), Refrigeration Electrical Engineering (REE) with 14.2 billion VND (679.500 USD), and financial conglomerate Ocean Group (OGC) with 8 billion VND (383.33 USD).

Tan Tao Industry Investment (ITA) was still the most active code with nearly 6.3 million shares traded but slumped 1.1 percent to 9,000 VND a share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 1.39 percent to close on 65.02 points. Trading value leapt 28.3 percent over the previous day’s level totalling 532.5 billion VND (25.5 million USD).

Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) again led trades in the northern market with 15 million shares changing hands growing 5.4 percent to 7,800 VND a share.

In contrast to the erratic trading seen on the southern market, foreigners finished the day as net buyers in Hanoi, picking up shares worth 8.81 billion VND (421.500 USD).- VNA