The VN-Index rises on Wednesday morning but the HNX-Index declines. — Photo tbck.vn

Viet Nam’s stock market moved slowly of the first trading day of 2020 on lingering investor caution.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange opened low but strong growth of bank stocks helped lift the index up 0.21 per cent to close Wednesday’s morning trade at 963.06 points.

Eight of ten listed banks on the bourse gained value, of which Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB) was the biggest gainer with a rise of 3 per cent to VND20,600 (US$0.89) per share.

BIDV (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Tien Phong Bank (TPB) and Military Bank (MBB) rose by more than 1 per cent. Others, such as Vietcombank (VCB), Techcombank (TCB) and Sacombank (STB), were up between 0.4-0.8 per cent.

Eximbank (EIB) and Ho Chi Minh Development Bank (HDB) dropped 0.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Some large caps in the VN30 (which tracks the top 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity) slumped and weighed on the market. They were Vin-stocks including Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vincom Retail, which fell by less than 1 per cent.

Other losers included brewer Sabeco (SAB), property developer Novaland Investment (NVL), logistics firm Gemadept (GMD) and FLC Faros Construction (ROS).

Without support of blue chips, on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched down 0.07 per cent to end the morning trade at 102.44 points.

Liquidity on the two bourses was low with just 120 million shares worth VND2.7 trillion ($115.4 million) traded.

The afternoon trade starts at 1pm. – VNS