Vietnamese shares bounced back on Tuesday morning after having been battered by low market sentiment in the previous eight sessions.

The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.31 per cent to close at 891.55 points.

The southern market index had fallen a total of 8.52 per cent in eight straight sessions since October 18 to hit its 16-week low of 888.82 points on Monday.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange advanced 1.20 per cent to end at 102.38 points.

The northern market index had dropped a total of 6.41 per cent in the previous six consecutive sessions.

More than 88.3 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND1.75 trillion (US$77.6 million).

Bargain hunting lifted local stocks again as investors targeted the shares that had fallen significantly in the last two trading weeks.

Banks and brokerage firms were the main driving factors of the stock market on Tuesday morning with the two sector indices rising 1.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Other strongly recovering sectors included retail, rubber production, food and beverage, and construction.

Purchase of low-priced stocks resulted in a slightly positive market trading conditions with 186 gaining stocks versus 169 declining ones.

Large-cap shares also performed well with the blue chip VN30 Index rising 0.29 per cent to 876.95 points.

Of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, 16 advanced while 12 declined.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS