Vietnamese shares advanced on the two local markets on Thursday morning as banks and brokerage firms extended growth on expectations for good earnings reports. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Shares continued to rise on Thursday morning, driven by banks and brokerage companies.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.34 per cent to close at 971.71 points.

It increased by a total of 2.36 per cent in the last four straight days.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched up 0.07 per cent to end at 115.65 points.

The northern market index was up 2.25 per cent in total, in the previous three sessions.

More than 113 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND2.56 trillion (US$114 million).

The stock market was boosted by banks and securities firms, which are highly expected by investors to release good earnings reports for the fourth quarter and the whole of 2017.

Eight of the 10 bank stocks advanced, with Eximbank (EIB), VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB) and MBBank (MBB) being among the best gainers.

The four bank stocks rose between 2.5 per cent and 1.2 per cent.

In the brokerage sector, VNDirect Securities (VND) had the highest growth rate, followed by Vietinbank Securities (CTS), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities (SHS).

The afternoon trade session starts at 1pm. – VNS