HCMC – Big-cap stocks made strong gains today, April 9, sending the VN-Index on the southern bourse gaining for a seventh session in a row.

The benchmark index added 12.31 points, or 1.65%, at 760.33. The number of winners almost doubled that of losers at 238 to 121. Stock trade improved given an upbeat sentiment on the local market, with matching volume soaring 18% at over 298 million shares and value leaping 16% at VND4.3 trillion. For large-cap stocks, brewery SAB shot up to its daily ceiling price in morning trade but came under strong selling pressure in the afternoon and ended up a mere 1.4% at VND140,000 per share. Unlike SAB, many other stocks sustained their growth momentum. Gas firm GAS closed at an intraday high of 6.9%. Securities firm SSI had maintained its ceiling price since the morning, jumping 6.7%. High-profile advancers such as retailer VRE and lender VCB rose over 5%. The national flag carrier HVN and petroleum firm PLX added more than 4%. Jewelry maker PNJ earned 3.2%. Other stocks in the VN30 basket including VNM, MSN, CTD, CTG and MBB ended in the green as well. Construction company ROS was still in the limelight among speculative stocks, with matching volume reaching as high as 28.76 million shares. On the northern bourse, big-cap stocks were key drivers of the HNX-Index, helping it add 1.15 points, or 1.1% against the previous session to 105.08, with 43 stocks advancing and 31 others dropping.