Vietnamese shares struggled to remain positive on Wednesday morning as investors adopted a wait-and-watch approach, hoping for a correction session.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose by 0.07 per cent to close the morning session at 1,023.50 points.

The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up by 0.64 per cent at 118.94 points.

Nearly 122 million shares, worth VND3 trillion (US$131 million), were traded in the two markets during the morning trading session.

Seventeen stocks in the VN30 basket, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity on the HCM Stock Exchange, gained value while 12 slipped.

The top performers among the gainers were PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (GAS), Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD), Hoa Binh Construction Group Joint Stock Company (HBC), Phu Nhuan Jewellery Joint Stock Company (PNJ) and Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG).

However, many large-caps slumped, dragging the market down. These included real estate developer Vingroup (VIC), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and brewer Sabeco (SAB).

The afternoon session starts at 1pm. — VNS