Twelve of the 13 listed banks gained value this morning, lifting the market. — Photo tapchitaichinh.vn

Shares rose towards the end of Wednesday’s morning trade despite a negative opening.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.3 per cent to 1,013.75 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.53 per cent to 116.14 points.

Banking stocks were the main force driving this morning.

Twelve of the 13 listed banks gained value (only HDBank lost ground).

Techcombank (TCB) was the biggest gainer with growth of 3.75 per cent. Five banks grew by over 1 per cent.

Experts forecast that banks will likely earn big profits this year despite the central bank curtailing credit expansion in the second half of the year.

Besides banks, other big gainers included Vincom Retail (VRE), Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Binh Minh Plastic (BMP) and Refrigerator Electric Engineering (REE) with growth of between 1.6-3.2 per cent.

On the other side, slumps in some heavyweight stocks restrained the market, such as Vinamilk (VNM), Sabeco (SAB), Masan Group (MSN) and Vingroup (VIC).

A total of 164 million shares worth a combined VND3 trillion (US$129 million) were traded in the two markets.

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. – VNS