Shares ended Friday morning in positive territory on the HCM Stock Exchange, but weak investor sentiment signaled the market could suffer more in the second half. - Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Shares ended Friday morning in positive territory on the HCM Stock Exchange, but weak investor sentiment signaled the market could suffer more in the second half.

The benchmark VN Index inched up 0.16 per cent to close at 947.62 points after gaining as much as 0.64 per cent in the morning.

The southern market index lost 0.78 per cent on Thursday.

More than 112.5 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND5.62 trillion (US$250 million).

Declining stocks outperformed gainers by 152 to 98, while 54 others remained unchanged.

The southern exchange was lifted by financial-banking and real estate stocks on the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation.

Among the gaining shares were Vietcombank (VCB), property developer Vingroup (VIC), Sacombank (STB), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and MBBank (MBB).

Other blue chips that also witnessed good gains included brewer Sabeco (SAB), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and steel producer Hoa Phat Group (HPG).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index fell 0.66 per cent to end at 112.81 points, extending its decline from Thursday's drop of 0.33 per cent.

More than 32.2 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND610.7 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS