Vietnamese shares spared some losses on Tuesday morning as large-caps were picked up by strong bargain purchasing.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fell 1.51 per cent to close at 656.51 points.

The VN-Index dived 6.08 per cent on Monday.

The benchmark dropped as much as 2.15 per cent before picking up as investors poured cash into large-caps on hopes the market had already reached its bottom.

More than 153.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND2.3 trillion (US$98.7 million).

The figure included 138.3 million shares being traded in order-matching deals, worth VND1.8 trillion.

Ten of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket advanced to cushion the market.

Large-cap gainers included insurer Bao Viet (BVH), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID).

The four large-cap stocks rose between 2.3 per cent and 4.6 per cent.

But the large-cap tracker VN30-Index slipped 1.31 per cent, dragged by property developers Vincom Retail (VRE), Vingroup (VIC) and Vinhomes (VHM), sugar firm Thanh Thanh Cong-Bien Hoa JSC (SBT), and FLC Faros Construction (ROS), which tumbled 6.8-7.0 per cent.

Prior to Tuesday morning, the southern market had lost more than VND1 quadrillion worth of market capitalisation in the post-Tet (Lunar’s New Year) period.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched up 0.08 per cent to end Tuesday morning at 96.54 points.

The HNX-Index plummeted 5.24 per cent on Monday.

Nearly 42 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VND373.5 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS