Shares of Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) increased by more than 3 per cent on Friday's morning. — Photo tbck.vn

Investors shrugged off their caution and poured more money into the market in the end of morning trading on Friday, helping lift the VN-Index despite the day's pessimistic opening.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index edged up 0.26 per cent to close Friday morning at 981.97 points.

Nearly 93 million shares worth VND2.6 trillion (US$111.6 million) were traded on the southern market.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index advanced 0.76 per cent to end at 102.44 points with nearly 16 million shares worth VND233.6 billion traded.

Shares of securities companies drew investor attention this morning.

Gainers included Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), VNDirect Securities (VND), Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities (SHS), Ho Chi Minh Securities (HCM), Vietinbank Securities (CTS) and Viet Capital Securities (VCI) with each growing between 2 and 7 per cent.

Local media reported Vietnam Investment Fund Management JSC (VFM) is seeking capital for two exchange-traded funds based on two indices – the VN-Diamond Index (Vietnam-FOL Index) and VN-Capped Financial Index (VN-Finance) – which will be built by the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

The VN-Finance Index will focus on financial stocks including securities, banking and insurance selected from VN-Allshare and classified in accordance to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). The selected shares will have a market capitalisation of VND500 billion and average liquidity of more than VND1 billion per session.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS