SSI Securities' headquarters in HCM City. The brokerage's shares gained 2.5 per cent on Monday morning. — Photo ssi.com.vn

Vietnamese shares struggled to stay positive on Monday morning, driven by a few large-cap companies.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange inched up 0.17 per cent to 991.72 points.

The VN-Index gained total 2.45 per cent last week.

Large-cap stocks remained the driving factor of the stock market in the morning session.

The blue-chip tracker VN30-Index was up 0.39 per cent to 954.62 points.

Half of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket increased.

Among gainers were steel producer Hoa Phat (HPG), property firm Vinhomes (VHM), SSI Securities (SSI), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) and retailer Mobile World Investment (MWG).

HPG and SSI rose 2.5 per cent each, VHM added 2.4 per cent, and GAS advanced 1.8 per cent.

Mid-cap and small-cap stocks continued attracting attention from investors.

The two sector indices were up 0.39 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 0.37 per cent to 147.76 points.

The northern market index increased by total 1.70 per cent last week.

More than 326 million shares were traded on the two exchanges, worth nearly VND6.3 trillion (US$270.8 million).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS