The overall market condition was neutral, however, with 101 shares rising, 100 declining and 109 closing unchanged. —  VNS Photo Doan Tung

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Shares continued to advance this morning, led by blue chips.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange exceeded 605 points, up 0.6 per cent over Friday's close, as many of the shares in the VN30's basket (which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity) saw substantial gains.

Real estate giant VinGroup (VIC) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) climbed more than two per cent, while the country's largest dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) increased more than 1.7 per cent.

The overall market condition was neutral, however, with 101 shares rising, 100 declining and 109 closing unchanged.

Liquidity remained modest with more than 55 million shares, worth VND1.1 trillion (US$49.1 million), being traded here by the end of the morning.

On the smaller exchange in Ha Noi, the HNX-Index was also up 0.7 per cent to end at 82.1 points, with nearly 23 million shares being traded, worth VND275 billion ($12.3 million).

The afternoon session will start at 1pm. — VNS