Vietravel's general director strikes the gong to debut their shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) on Friday morning. — Photo baotintuc.vn

Shares maintained above the reference threshold on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange but were on the downward trend by the end of the morning.

Closing the morning session, the VN-Index edged up 0.27 per cent at 993.47 points.

Large caps remained the support pillar for the southern market with 17 of the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity gained value. Only 10 declined.

Mobile World Investment Group (MWG) and Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB) rose by more than 1 per cent while others such as FPT Corp (FPT), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), PV Gas (GAS), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vinhomes (VHM) increased by less than 1 per cent

By contrast, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched down 0.05 per cent at 104.72 points.

A total of 110.4 million shares worth combined VND2.84 trillion (US$122 million) were traded in the two markets.

Friday morning, 12.6 million shares of Vietnam Travel and Marketing Transport JSC (Vietravel), one of top 10 Vietnamese biggest tourist companies, made their debut on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM), coded VTR) with the reference price of VNĐ40,000 per share.

VTR rose by the ceiling limit for the first trading day of 40 per cent to VND56,000 ($2.40) each but only 1,300 shares changed hands in the market.

The afternoon trade starts at 1pm. – VNS