HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Shares opened lower this morning as trading remained sluggish because of investor caution on both the stock exchanges.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index fell by 0.19 per cent to end the morning at 542.52 points.

However, the recovery of several large-cap stocks helped the market.

Vietcombank (VCB) led the gainers with a 2.7 per cent rise, and was traded at VND27,000 per share. The other gainers included Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) which increased by 2.1 per cent; insurance firm Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), which was up by 0.53 per cent; and Eximbank (EIB), which gained 0.8 per cent.

The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, rose 0.11 per cent to stand at 595.01 points.

Trading was modest with nearly 57 million shares, worth VND818 billion or US$38.8 million, being traded by the end of the morning.

Real estate developer FLC Group (FLC) was the most active code with more than 8.3 million shares being exchanged at VND10,900 per share, up 4.8 per cent over the previous session's close.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed 0.21 per cent off at 74.42 points.

Nearly 26 million shares, worth just VND213 billion or $10 million, were traded.

PetroVietnam Construction Corp (PVX) was temporarily leading the trading with 3.75 million shares, being exchanged at VND4,900 per share.

The trading will resume at 1pm. — VNS