The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw a fairly balanced session with 185 stocks gaining and 192 losing.

Total transaction volume surged 35 percent over the previous session to VND5.72 trillion ($246 million), a significant improvement compared to some of last week’s sessions which were below VND4 trillion ($172 million) as the index went on a 6-session losing streak.

However, June’s trading had been much livelier, with average trading volume of VND6.67 trillion ($287 million) per session.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s largest caps added 0.28 percent, with 14 tickers gaining and 10 losing.

HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group led gains with 2.7 percent, followed by SAB of major brewery Sabeco, up 2.5 percent, and CTD of construction giant Coteccons, 1.9 percent.

Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned banks by assets were among the biggest gainers, with CTG of VietinBank rising 1.7 percent, BID of BDIV, 1.2 percent, and VCB of Vietcombank, 0.6 percent. MBB of mid-sized state-owned Military Bank added 0.6 percent.

Other gainers included FPT of IT services giant FPT, up 1.4 percent, VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, up 1.3 percent, VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, up 0.6 percent, and NVL of real estate developer Novaland, up 0.5 percent.

In the opposite direction, VPB of private VPBank topped losses with 1.4 percent, followed by ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros, down 1.3 percent, and MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, down 1.3 percent.

Among private banks, STB of Sacombank shed 0.9 percent while TCB of Techcombank, HDB of HDBank and EIB of Eximbank all kept their opening prices.

Some of the market’s biggest capped losers this session included VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, both falling 0.4 percent, and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., down 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, rose 0.57 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market shed 0.23 percent.

Foreign investors remained net buyers to the tune of VND50 billion ($2.15 million) on all three bourses, with buying pressure mostly on PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, which added 0.2 percent; and VRE of Vincom Retail.