The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 250 tickers gaining and 161 losing. Total trading volume was VND6.46 trillion ($277.64 million), far above last month’s average of VND5 trillion per session.

Market sentiment was overall positive this session, with the benchmark VN-Index having shot up over 5 points within the first 30 minutes of trading, and remaining around that level for the rest of the day, never dropping down below its opening of 906.19 points.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest caps rose 0.65 percent, with 20 of the blue chips in the green and nine in the red.

Topping gains was PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, up 4 percent, followed by POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, up 4 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.

Also in oil and gas, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas added 1.1 percent. Gains in the sector came as global crude prices were edging up. U.S. benchmarks WTI Crude and Brent Crude futures, as of 4:40 p.m., were up 0.2 percent and 0.29 percent respectively over the last trading session, to $39.88 and $41.91 a barrel.

Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets were the biggest contributors to gains on the VN-Index by being some of the VN30’s largest caps, altogether accounting for a 2.74 rise on the index, according to data from brokerage VNDIRECT.

In this group, BID of BIDV, CTG of VietinBank and VCB of Vietcombank all rose 1.7 percent each.

Other major gainers this session included MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, with 2.3 percent, MSN of food giant Masan Group, 2 percent, and VPB of private VPBank, 1.7 percent.

Private banking tickers were also mostly positive performers. STB of Sacombank added 0.8 percent, HDB of HDBank 0.5 percent, EIB of Eximbank 0.3 percent, while TCB of Techcombank shed 0.2 percent.

In the opposite direction, REE of appliances maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering topped losses with 0.9 percent, followed by three tickers of real estate developers, KDH of Khang Dien House, TCH of Hoang Huy Group, and NVL of Novaland, down 0.8 percent, 0.7 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the HoSE’s biggest stock, this session edged down 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, added 0.34 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market shed 0.49 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the third consecutive session to the tune of VND117 billion on all three bourses. The most net bought stocks were VCB of Vietcombank and two exchange traded funds.