HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Stocks opened lower this morning following news of an electricity price hike yesterday evening, but gains in some blue chips rescued the market from a fall.
On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rose 0.32 per cent to close the morning at 493.40 points, while the VN30 tracking the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity was up 0.28 per cent at 544.04 points.
Heavyweight shares such as VinGroup (VIC), PV Gas (GAS), Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG) and Vietinbank (CTG) increased from 0.5-1.5 per cent.
Overall, shares that fell outnumbered gainers by 91-61, while another 153 closed flat.
More than 19.4 million shares worth VND339.3 billion (US$16.2 million) were exchanged.
No shares had trades of over 1 million shares. An Duong Thao Dien Real Estate Co (HAR) was the most active code with just over 886,500 shares exchanged at VND12,800 ($0.61) a share.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also rose 0.18 per cent to 61.60 points but trading remained modest with over 7.3 million shares worth more than VND73 billion ($3.5 million) exchanged.
Property developer Sacomreal (SCR) is temporarily leading the northern market's trades with over 784,500 shares changing hands at VND6,600 each.
Trading on the two exchanges will resume at 3pm. - VNS