Vietnam stocks post gain as European shares slip

The index closed 4.51 points higher after gaining 9.87 points in the previous session.

Trading on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange increased by 8% to VND18.471 trillion (US$743.4 million).

The VN-30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 14 tickers gained.

FPT of IT giant FPT Corporation closed 4.7% higher, followed by MSN of conglomerate Masan Group with a 3.9% increase and SAB of brewer Sabeco, up 2.3%.

Fourteen blue chips fell. STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank slipped 1.6%, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group went down 0.91%, and TPB of lender TPBank decreased by 0.85%.

Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of VND507 billion, mainly buying MSN and FPT.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, fell 0.21%, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market went up 0.14%.

Globally, European shares failed on Thursday to follow overnight gains in the U.S. and China, while the dollar sat near a two-month high before U.S. inflation data, Reuters reported.

Europe's broad Stoxx 600 index was down a whisker on the day, and the German 10 year bund yield, the euro zone benchmark nudged up to 2.27%, a five-week high, but the market focus was on gains in China spurred by hopes that a briefing this weekend will deliver anticipated fiscal stimulus.

China's blue-chip CSI300 index failed to hold all those gains, and the index closed up just over 1%, after the previous day's 7% fall, which was triggered by some investor concern about the lack of details in the stimulus package.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged over 3%, after slipping 1.3% on Wednesday and is up 26% this year.