The benchmark VN-Index in the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.79 per cent to close morning trading at 957.37 points. -- Photo cafef.vn

Shares ended Friday morning on a positive note as a series of large-cap stocks climbed up and spurred market.

The benchmark VN-Index in the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.79 per cent to close morning trading at 957.37 points.

The southern index had gained 1.16 per cent to close Thursday at 949.90 points.

Nearly 251 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND5.2 trillion (US$223.9 million).

Market breadth was positive with 174 decliners and 220 gainers.

Steel maker Hoà Phát Group was a notable gainer as it soared 3.6 per cent to hit an all-time peak of VND30,650 per share, surpassing its historic peak recored on March 1, 2018, at VND29,980 per share.

Other pillar stocks also outperformed such as Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Mobile World Group (MWG).

The VN30-Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and liquidity on HoSE, increased 0.73 per cent to close Friday morning at 924.99 points.

In the VN-30 basket, 14 stocks gained ground and 14 decreased while two remained flat.

The minor HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange increased 0.54 per cent to end Friday morning at 141.61 points.

More than 40.75 billion shares were traded on the northern exchange, worth VND434 billion. -- VNS