A Vietinbank trade office. The bank shares jumped 5.5 per cent in the morning session. — Photo thanhtra.com.vn

Vietnamese shares rose on Thursday morning, driven by large-caps in the banking sector.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.74 per cent to close at 974.70 points.

The VN-Index had increased by a total of 0.18 per cent in the previous two days.

More than 110 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.48 trillion (US$107 million).

Capital rushed into large-caps again, boosting the large-cap VN30-Index by 0.76 per cent.

Meanwhile, mid-cap VNMID-Index and small-cap VNSML-Index dropped 0.02 per cent and 0.24 per cent, respectively.

Despite the market growth, the market breadth was still negative with 136 gaining stocks and 171 decliners.

Big growth was seen in some large-cap stocks, especially banks such ash Vietcombank (VCB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Vietinbank (CTG), Techcombank (TCB) and Military Bank (MBB).

Of those stocks, BID and CTG soared 5.9 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

The banking industry index rose 2.9 per cent, the highest among 25 sector indices.

Other industries with good performance included retail, rubber production, securities and technology.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was up 0.92 per cent to end at 104.14 points.

The northern market index shed 0.17 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 14 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND182.8 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS