Eight of the nine listed banks on the southern bourse gained value in Wednesday morning trading. BIDV, Military Bank and Tien Phong Bank all increased by more than 1 per cent. — Photo laodong.vn

Banks maintained their positive performance in Wednesday morning trading, saving the benchmark VN-Index from posting a loss.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up just 0.05 per cent to 916.43 points, though the number of declining stocks outnumbered the gaining ones by 144 to 114.

Only eight of the twenty stock groups tracked by vietstock.vn gained value while 12 saw losses.

With many large-cap enterprises, the banking and insurance groups posted an average growth of more than 0.5 per cent.

Eight of nine listed banks on the southern bourse rose in value. The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Military Bank (MBB) and Tien Phong Bank (TPB) all increased by more than 1 per cent.

Big insurers like Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Bao Minh Insurance also rose but by a more modest rate of less than 1 per cent.

On the other end of spectrum, some heavyweight stocks lost value and weighed on the market including Vinamilk (VNM), brewer Sabeco (SAB), Vingroup (VIC), Mobile World (MWG) and steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG).

Shares on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange performed better with the HNX-Index increasing 0.52 per cent to close morning trading at 102.91 points.

Liquidity was at an average level with more than 81 million shares worth a combined VND1.5 trillion (US$64.4 million) traded on the two markets.

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. – VNS