Vietnamese shares maintained their positive movement on Thursday morning, driven by large-cap companies.

The benchmark VN Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.42 per cent to close at 934.10 points.

The southern market index had gained a total of 1.33 per cent in the previous three trading days.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange rose 0.36 per cent to end at 104.47 points.

The northern market index advanced 0.88 per cent on Wednesday.

Large-cap stocks continued driving the market up, lifting the blue-chip VN30 Index by 0.54 per cent to 906.29 points.

In the VN30 basket, two thirds of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation advanced while nine declined.

Among the gainers were budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), Vietcombank (VCB), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vietinbank (CTG) and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI).

The market sentiment was supported by the US Fed chairman’s speech on Wednesday night, signalling future rate hikes would be made at a slower pace.

Across the stock market, banks, property developers, securities firms and construction companies were among the best performing groups.

Nearly 82 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND1.7 trillion (US$75.6 million).

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS