Investors at Vietcombank Securities Company. - VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Anh

Shares were mixed at the closing of trading on Thursday morning, higher on the HCM City Exchange but lower on the northern bourse, although in the last five sessions both witnessed strong gains.

The benchmark index’s gain narrowed, with the VN-Index rising as much as 0.20 per cent to end at 943.17 points. It had soared 2.29 per cent on Wednesday.

Contrary to strong demand in previous sessions, Thursday morning’s session witnessed fluctuation of the index.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index posted a loss of 1.05 per cent to end at 943.17 points, reversing from its increase of 2 per cent on Wednesday.

Nearly 127 million shares, worth over VNĐ2.5 trillion (US$108 million), were traded across the two markets.

Overall market condition was balanced with 196 gainers and 200 losers while another 345 closed unchanged.

Tracking the southern bourse’s largest stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, the VN30-Index added 0.69 per cent, to end at 941.91 points.

The benchmark index received support from steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) which surged to the ceiling price of VNĐ11,550 per share.

Other large-caps also gained strongly, including Petro Vietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Masan Group (MSN) and Vinamilk (VNM). Notably, budget carrier Vietjet (VJC) was up 2 per cent thanks to the information that the firm on July 18 signed a contract with Boeing, purchasing 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft worth of nearly US$13 billion.

Bank stocks lost ground, slowing down the uptrend of the market.

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. — VNS