Indices inched higher on Wednesday morning, boosted by gains in many large-cap stocks but the market was more cautious as selling forces reemerged.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index climbed 8.95 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 1,534.53 points, setting a new record high.

The market breadth was still positive, while liquidity was also higher than yesterday. Accordingly, nearly 608.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth over VND19.2 trillion (US$846.3 million).

The benchmark's gains were mainly driven by large-cap stocks in utilities, real estate and banking sectors.

Data compiled by Vietstock showed that PV Gas (GAS) was the biggest gainer, up 3.24 per cent. It was followed by Vincom Retail (VRE), Vietcombank (VCB), Development Investment Construction JSC (DIG) and Becamex (BCM). The stocks rose at least 1.65 per cent, with VRE even hitting the maximum intraday gain of 7 per cent.

However, strong gains on the first trading day of the new year triggered profit-taking activities in some big stocks like Masan Group (MSN) down 2.29 per cent, Novaland (NVL) down 1.24 per cent, and Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) down 1.45 per cent.

On Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index climbed 5.54 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 479.64 points. VNS