A PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS)'s facility. The firm shares jumped 4.9 per cent on Thursday morning. — Photo tuoitrethudo.com.vn

Vietnamese shares ended Thursday morning on a positive note, largely on the strength of a handful of banking and energy blue-chips.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange increased 1.57 per cent to end the morning session at 759.75 points.

The VN-Index inched up 0.18 per cent to end Wednesday at 748.02 points.

More than 168.1 million shares were traded on the southern exchange, worth VND2.3 trillion (US$97.6 million).

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index gained 1.05 per cent to close morning session at 698.40 points.

In the VN30 basket, 22 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity gained ground while 7 declined. One stayed unchanged.

The stock market was driven by strong gains in energy and mining stocks after global oil prices picked up in Wednesday's overnight trading.

US crude rose 4.58 per cent to $26.24 a barrel. Brent crude rose 2.5 per cent to $33.71 per barrel.

Among local energy stocks, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) jumped 4.9 per cent while others such as PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) climbed 3.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent.

There was also an added boost from the banking stocks group, with gainers in the group including Vietcombank, Vietinbank, Techcombank, VPBank, Military Bank. They all increased between 0.5 and 4.3 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange climbed 0.51 per cent to close Thursday morning at 104.46 points.

The northern market index increased 0.49 per cent to close Wednesday at 103.93 points.

More than 32.4 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ343 billion. — VNS