The benchmark VN-Index seemed to rise hesitantly in the morning, but soared in the afternoon as buy orders of banking and steel stocks piled in, eventually gaining 8.49 points for the day’s session.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 275 stocks gain and 149 lose, 23 of them hitting their ceiling prices.

Total trading volume fell slightly over the previous trading week to VND10.1 trillion ($434 million).

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps rose 0.78 percent, with 18 stocks gaining and 7 losing. This basket accounted for over 46 percent of trading volume, indicating that investors have been focusing more on mid-caps this session

Topping gains on the VN30 was HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, up 3.4 percent, followed by BID of state-owned banking giant BIDV, up 3.2 percent, SAB of major brewer Sabeco and SSI of top brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., both gaining 2.5 percent.

Results were mixed for the other state-owned banks, with VCB of Vietcombank up 2.2 percent, CTG of VietinBank keeping its opening price, and MBB of mid-sized Military Bank edging down 0.2 percent.

In the private banking sector, VPB of VPBank added 1.1 percent, TCB of Techcombank, 1 percent, EIB of Eximbank 0.9 percent, and HDB of HDBank 0.7 percent. STB of Sacombank was the only one that lost, by 0.3 percent.

Other major gainers included VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, with 1.1 percent, PLX of gasoline distributor Petrolimex, 1 percent, and GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Power, 0.9 percent.

In the opposite direction, POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power topped losses at 0.9 percent, followed by SBT of agricultural exporter TTC-Sugar, 0.5 percent, and VJC of budget carrier VietJet Air, down 0.4 percent.

The only other losing stocks were VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes and REE of Refrigeration Electrical Engineering, both down 0.2 percent.

In similar fashion to the HoSE, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), Vietnam’s second main bourse and home to small and mid-caps, saw its index surge 1.13 percent, and the UPCOM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.13 percent.

Foreign investors were strong net buyers this session to the tune of VND230 billion on all three bourses, with buying pressure on several key HoSE-listed blue-chips, as well as the 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.