Shares rose further on the southern market on Friday morning, driven by large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.35 per cent to close at 818.72 points.

The benchmark by Thursday had rallied a total of 1.3 per cent since October 6.

More than 78.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.67 trillion (US$74.6 million).

Large-cap stocks performed well as half of the 30 top companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity on the VN30 Index advanced.

These included brewer Sabeco (SAB), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corp (KBC), Binh Minh Plastic Co (BMP) and consumer goods producer Masan (MSN).

Among these stocks, SAB increased by 1.9 per cent, extending its gain from a two-day increase of 2.3 per cent.

Market speculators are expecting that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will get approval from the Prime Minister for its divestment plan, under which the ministry will offload 53.5 per cent of its stake in Viet Nam’s largest beer producer.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index edged up 0.22 per cent to end at 108.62 points.

The northern market index recovered after falling 0.25 per cent on Thursday.

More than 25.5 million shares were exchanged on the northern bourse, worth VND348.6 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS