The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange saw 313 stocks gain and just 77 lose, with 52 tickers, including two blue chips, hitting their ceiling prices, the highest they can go in a single trading session.

Investors focused more on mid- and small caps this session as total trading volume reached VND8.42 trillion ($361 million), the highest single-day trading volume so far this year.

Only 47 percent of this sum went into the VN30 basket for HoSE’s 30 biggest capped stocks, which usually attracts over half of trading volume. The VN30-Index for stocks in this basket rose 1.46 percent, with 27 gainers and 3 losers.

ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar were the biggest gainers this session, both rising 7 percent to their ceiling prices. Both stocks are the VN30’s smaller caps, with SBT just being added to the VN30 this January and ROS’s market cap having declined below some stocks outside the VN30 this year.

The top gainers this session were a mixed bag, with MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World rising 4.6 percent, BID of state-owned banking giant BIDV, 4.5 percent, PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, 3.8 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, 3 percent.

Oil and gas were some of the best performers. GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas rose 2.6 percent, PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex 2.1 percent, and POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam, 1.4 percent.

CTG of VietinBank and VCB of Vietcombank, two of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned banks by assets, gained 1.8 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s biggest cap, gained a solid 1.1 percent, while VHM of its real estate arm Vinhomes rose 0.6 percent and VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail added 0.5 percent.

Stocks of mid-sized banks were among the lower end of the gainers this session, with TCB of private Techcombank rising 1.2 percent, MBB of state-owned Military Bank 1.1 percent, and EIB of private Eximbank up 0.3 percent.

In the opposite direction, CTD shares of construction giant Coteccons topped losses with 1.8 percent, followed by that of two private banks, HDB of HDBank, down 0.4 percent, and VPB of VPBank, down 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange surged 1.71 percent and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market added 1.54 percent.

Foreign investors’ turned net buyers on all three bourses to the tune of VND380 billion ($16.29 milllion), after three consecutive net selling sessions. Buying pressure was mostly on FUEVFVND, an exchange traded fund replicating the performance of stocks on the VN Diamond Index.

The VN Diamond Index is a group of 14 stocks, which includes blue chips such as TCB, VPB, MBB, MWG, PNJ, CTG and FPT. The basket of stocks, selected based on their free-float capitalization, was introduced by HoSE last November, and the FUEVFVND began trading on May 12 this year.