Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index jumped 1.42 per cent to 577.81 points at the break on Monday, led by strong rises in PetroVietNam Gas on a share buy-back plan, while positive results boosted the purchase in lender BIDV.
GAS shares jumped 6.76 per cent to 79,000 dong ($3.7) each in robust trade, extending a rally last Friday when the company said it would buy back 10 million shares at 100,000 dong each in the first quarter of 2015.
Hanoi-based lender BIDV led the all-gain banking sector with a 6.9 per cent climb after it said its profit before tax in 2014 rose 20 per cent from a year earlier to 6.1 trillion dong ($286 million).
BIDV had said in a statement last week that bad debt accounted for 1.8 per cent of its loans last year. The ratio was 2.37 per cent in 2013.
Upbeat trade in GAS and banks have overshadowed falls in some other shares as investors snapped quick profits around the index’s resistance level of 580 points, analysts said.