The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 183 stocks gaining and 198 losing.

Total trading volume fell around 20 percent compared to the previous session, to VND5.05 trillion ($217.57 million), after two weeks when daily liquidity consistently surpassed the VND6 trillion mark.

Although the benchmark VN-Index had been in the red for most of the session, a surge in buy orders within the final 15 minutes of trading, also known as at-the-close orders, brought the index up above its opening.

The VN30-Index for HoSE’s largest caps also rose 0.14 percent, with 11 tickers gaining and 11 losing.

Topping gains was PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, up 2.6 percent. Results in the oil and gas sector were mixed, with POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power keeping its opening price, while GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas shed 0.4 percent.

Of the VN30, most oil and gas stocks rose Wednesday. PVC of PetroVietnam Chemical and Services surged 7 percent, PVB of PetroVietnam Coating added 5.4 percent, OIL of PetroVietnam Oil 2.6 percent, and PVD of PetroVietnam Drilling 2.25 percent.

Gains in this sector seem to be in line with the rise in global oil prices. The threat of a hurricane to America's coastal refineries is causing oil prices to surge on the threat to fuel supplies. As of 5.13 p.m., U.S. benchmarks WTI Crude and Brent Crude were up 2.27 percent and 2.10 percent respectively, to $39.15 and $41.38 a barrel.

On the VN30, the next major gainers were MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, up 1.8 percent, PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry, up 1.3 percent, FPT of IT services group FPT, 1 percent, and SSI of top brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., 0.6 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the HoSE’s largest cap, added 0.5 percent this session. VHM of its real estate arm Vinhomes also gained 0.5 percent, while VRE of retail arm Vincom Retail remained flat.

Leading losses this session was MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, down 0.9 percent.

Most banking tickers were in the red this session. CTG and BID of state-owned banking giants VietinBank and BIDV slipped 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

In the private sector, STB of Sacombank, VPB of VPBank, and HDB of HDBank dropped 0.4 percent, 0.2 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.

Other major losers were VNM of dairy firm Vinamilk, TCH of truck dealer Hoang Huy Group, and ROS of construction firm FLC Faros, all down 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, fell 0.05 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.34 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers again, to the tune of VND202 billion on all three bourses. The most net sold stocks were VHM of Vinhomes and VNM of Vinamilk.