A BIDV office. The bank shares gained 1.4 per cent on Monday morning after its dividend payouts for 2017 and 2018 boosted interest among investors. — Photo vietnamfinance.vn

Vietnamese shares moved up on Monday morning with low liquidity as investors were too cautious to buy in local assets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.06 per cent to close at 997.12 points.

The southern market index gained total 0.74 per cent last week.

More than 83.4 million shares were traded on the market, worth VND1.75 trillion (US$75.5 million).

Sole performance of some large-cap stocks such as Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and Vietinbank (CTG) drove the market up.

BID advanced 1.4 per cent after the bank last weekend announced it would pay 2017 and 2018 dividends in cash at a 7 per cent rate.

It means every shareholder will receive VND700 for each share they own. Payment is scheduled on December 12, 2019.

SAB also rose 1.4 per cent following its quarterly earnings report last week.

Meanwhile, other large-caps such as Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) were hit by strong profit-taking.

Investors were clearly cautious as there was a lack of supportive news on the market despite a third of the 30 top largest companies by market value and trading liquidity having reported their quarterly earnings.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index was up 0.40 per cent to end at 105.14 points.

The northern market index dropped total 0.73 per cent last week.

More than 14 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND155 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS