Vietnamese shares rose marginally on Tuesday morning as insurance-finance and energy firms remained positive against a strong profit-taking that pulled bank stocks down.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged up 0.32 per cent to close at 1,026.21 points. It gained 1.01 per cent on Monday.

The minor HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange inched up 0.11 per cent to end at 121.21 points, extending growth from an increase of 1.81 per cent on Monday.

More than 255.5 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND5.44 trillion (US$242 million).

Insurance-finance and energy stocks took turn to drive the market up on Tuesday morning with the two industry indices growing 3.3 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively, data on vietstock.vn shows.

Top gainers among those firms included Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), BIDV Insurance Corp (BIC), PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

Other sectors that saw share values up included property, securities and building materials production.

On the opposite side, banking, rubber production and food and beverages were among those that were hit by profit-taking.

The banking industry index was down 0.1 per cent, led by Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID) and Vietinbank. – VNS