An investor at VNDirect Securities Corporation. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

Vietnamese shares advanced on Wednesday morning, driven by banking-insurance and petroleum companies.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rose 0.96 per cent to close at 979.08 points.

The southern market index had fallen total 1.92 per cent in the first two days of the week.

More than 88.3 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.8 trillion (US$77.5 million).

Market breadth was positive with gaining stocks outnumbering decliners by 195 to 90 while 48 stocks ended flat.

Insurance-banking and petro stocks drove the market, with their sector indices gaining between 0.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Among the best performers were Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and PetroVietnam Gas (GAS).

Good performance of those large-cap stocks also pulled the blue-chip VN30-Index up 0.93 per cent to 902.91 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rose 0.81 per cent to close at 107.71 points.

The northern market index increased by 0.41 per cent on Tuesday.

Nearly 13 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND164 billion.

Afternoon trading starts at 1pm. — VNS