Shares gained for fifth consecutive sessions on Thursday morning thanks to the unexpected rise of some blue-chips at the end of the trading session.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange increased 0.55 per cent to close at 944.96 points.

It had risen 2.8 per cent in the last five trading sessions.

Nearly 164.8 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND3.4 trillion (US$146 million).

Market breadth was negative with 216 decliners and 177 gainers.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, increased 0.73 per cent to close Thursday morning at 912.12 points.

In the VN-30 basket, 16 stocks gained ground, seven decreased and seven remained flat.

Some pillar stocks gained surprisingly at the final minutes of trading, including HDBank (HDB), Vincom Retail (VRE), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ), Vingroup (VIC), Vinamilk (VNM) and Mobile World Group (MWG).

The minor HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange decreased 0.57 per cent to end Thursday morning at 139.22 points.

More than 19.3 million shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND266 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS