A pedestrial passes a Vietcombank branch in Hà Nội. Shares cooled down, restraining the market rally on Monday morning. — VNS Photo Mai Hương

Shares declined towards the end of the trading session on Monday morning but still managed to post slight gains after banking stocks cooled down.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.14 per cent to end the morning session at 981.40 points after touching nearly 986 points earlier in the morning.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.4 per cent at 102.76 points.

Liquidity was modest with 73 million shares worth nearly VND1.9 trillion (US$80 million) traded on the two markets.

Many banks gained when the market opened but gradually retreated to their reference prices by the end of the session, limiting the market uptrend. They included VPBank (VPB), Military Bank (MBB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Ho Chi Minh Development Bank (HDB) and Sacombank (STB).

Some lost value, such as Techcombank (TCB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Tien Phong Bank (TPB).

Only three maintained their growth, including Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID) and Eximbank (EIB).

Real estate shares attracted investor attention this morning. Big companies such as Vinhomes (VHM), Novaland Investment (NVL), Kinh Bac City Development (KBC), Song Da Urban & Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS) and Dat Xanh Group (DXG) all gained.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS