Vietnamese shares’ gains eased on Thursday morning as the prolonged coronavirus outbreak kept market sentiment low.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange rose 0.31 per cent to end at 931.68 points.

The benchmark was up as much as 0.92 per cent in the opening period.

The VN-Index gained a total of 0.40 per cent in the previous two days.

More than 118.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.8 trillion (US$77.5 million).

Nearly 93 per cent of the shares were sold via matched orders, worth VND1.58 trillion.

The market breadth was positive with 195 gaining stocks and 116 decliners.

The index narrowed its growth as investors still worried about the coronavirus after reports showed the number of cases in South Korea and Japan was increasing.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam on Wednesday declared all coronavirus-infected patients had been cured.

The three trackers that watch local stocks in terms of market capitalisation and trading liquidity increased.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index moved forward by 0.25 per cent while the mid-cap and small-cap trackers were lifted by 0.29 per cent and 0.58 per cent, respectively.

Among large-cap gainers were FLC Faros Construction (ROS), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), VPBank (VPB), insurer Bao Viet (BVH), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and food and beverage firm Masan (MSN).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index inched up 0.07 per cent to close at 109.37 points.

The northern market index fell 0.70 per cent on Wednesday.

More than 23 million shares were traded on Ha Noi’s market, worth VND277.5 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. – VNS