Steel manufactured at Hoa Sen Group. Shares of the steelmaker recorded the strongest growth in the morning trade. — Photo hoasengroup.vn

Việt Nam’s benchmark VN Index recovered slightly on Wednesday morning, as investors picked up stocks that had fallen steeply on Tuesday.

The benchmark index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.12 per cent to close at 739.13 points. It has fallen by 1.1 per cent on Tuesday.

Around 90.1 million shares worth VND2.1 trillion (US$94 million) were traded on the southern bourse.

The sharp market drop on Tuesday continued to weigh down investor confidence in the morning session. In its Tuesday report, Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) said the VN Index may extend losses in the coming sessions. However, the market received a slight boost as investors purchased shares that had suffered big losses on Tuesday.

Half the stocks on the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, advanced; 10 others declined. Steelmaker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) was the strongest gainer with a growth of 2.9 per cent, while others rose between 0.1 per cent and 1.7 per cent.

At the other end, pharmaceutical firm DHG (DHG), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and Vietinbank (CTG) were among the main decliners.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index advanced 0.95 per cent to end at 94.12 points, reversing from its Tuesday’s loss of 0.6 per cent.

Around 49.2 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND468.6 billion.

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. — VNS