HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares ended higher on Monday morning as investors moved into beaten-down financial stocks in search of better yields.

The VN-Index in the Hồ Chí Minh Stock exchange rose 1.11 per cent to close the morning trade at 874.10 points.

Nearly 253.9 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VNĐ3.7 trillion (US$159 million).

Market breadth was positive with the gainers outnumbering the decliners by 258 to 107.

The benchmark VN-Index had gained significantly by nearly 31 per cent in two months from March 24 to May 21. That made the Vietnamese stock market one of the best-performing markets in the world in April and May.

Large-cap stocks performed well on Monday morning as their tracker VN30-Index was up 1.07 per cent to close at 814.86 points, with 28 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity gaining.

On a sector basis, 22 out of 25 sectors posted gains such as retail, insurance, securities, information and technology, food and beverage, seafood processing, banking, real estate, agriculture, home appliance production, logistics, construction and construction materials.

The banking index, which fell last week, gained 1.78 per cent as bank stocks attracted strong cash flow from investors.

Notable gainers in the group were Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Bank for Investment and Development (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Military Bank (MBB), VPBank (VPB), Techcombank (TCB) and Tien Phong Bank (TPB).

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange rose 2.06 per cent to close Monday morning at 112.07 points.

More than 49.1 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VNĐ429 billion. — VNS