Shares ended Friday morning up thanks to positive investor sentiment due to the recovery of the US stock market.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended slightly down, but were well above their session lows in volatile trading on Thursday as the arrest of a Chinese technology executive fanned fears of increased US-China trade tensions, while some big technology and internet shares posted gains.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.49 per cent to close at 959.47 points on Friday morning.

It was down 0.24 per cent at 954.82 points on Thursday.

The minor HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange gained 0.29 per cent in morning trading to close at 107.41 points.

The index inched down 0.60 per cent to 107.10 points on Thursday.

Large-cap stocks continued driving the market, lifting the blue-chip VN30 Index by 0.71 per cent to 929.37 points.

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

More than 110 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VNĐ2 trillion (US$88.2 million).

Blue-chip stocks such as budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), Mobile World Group (MWG), Phú Nhuận jewellery producer (PNJ), insurer Bảo Việt Holdings (BVH), FPT Group (FPT) and steel maker Hòa Phát Group (HPG) all gained ground, boosting the market.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS