Bank stocks drove the market in the morning trade as nine of 13 listed banks on the two exchanges gained value and only two lost. — Photo vietnambiz.vn

Shares extended gains on the two national stock exchanges on Thursday morning, boosted once again by financial stocks.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange added 0.33 per cent to close at 1,023.77 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.88 per cent to 116.31 points.

Bank stocks drove the market in the morning trade as nine of 13 listed banks on the two exchanges gained value and only two lost.

The biggest gainers were small and medium-sized banks such as Military Bank (MBB, up 3.7 per cent), Tien Phong Bank (TPB), Techcombank (TCB) and Nam Viet Bank (NVB) with each rising over 2 per cent.

The three largest banks by total assets – Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID) – increased between 0.1-1.1 per cent.

Besides banks, many securities companies saw their shares gain value, including Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), Bao Viet Securities (BVS), VNDirect Securities (VND) and Viet Capital Securities, each up over 1 per cent.

Overall market condition was positive as well with 226 stocks rising, 174 declining and 345 closing unchanged.

A total of 139 million shares worth combined VND3.15 trillion (US$135.2 million) were traded in the two markets.

The afternoon trade starts at 1pm. – VNS