Market sentiment was overall positive this session, with the benchmark VN-Index never dipping below its opening of 909.91 points.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, was a sea of green with 304 stocks gaining and 120 losing. Total trading volume fell 10 percent over the previous session, to VND7.3 trillion ($316.02 million).

58 percent of trading volume this session poured into stocks outside the VN30, a basket of the HoSE’s 30 largest caps. Analysts observed that in the past three months, investors have tended to put money into smaller caps with good financials to find new opportunities as Covid-19 slash bottom lines at many listed firms.

The VN30-Index this session climbed 0.72 percent, with 17 stocks gaining and 9 losing.

Topping gains this session was REE of appliances maker Refrigeration Electrical Engineering with 4.5 percent, followed by MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group with 3.5 percent.

POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc. both rose 2.8 percent, followed by HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group which added 2.4 percent.

Most listed mid-sized banks performed positively this session. MBB of state-owned Military Bank and VPB of VPBank were up 2.3 percent each, EIB of Eximbank gained 2.1 percent, STB of Sacombank 1.9 percent, HDB of HDBank 0.4 percent, while TCB of Techcombank kept its opening price.

Results were poorer for Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, with CTG of VietinBank adding 2 percent, but VCB of Vietcombank and BID of BIDV both shedding 0.6 percent.

TCH of truck dealer Hoang Huy Group was the biggest loser this session with 2.3 percent, followed by PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, down 0.8 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, was down 0.7 percent, while both of its subsidiaries, VRE of retail arm Vincom Retail and VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes added 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.

Other losing stocks included VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 0.6 percent, and VJC of budget carrier Vietjet Air, down 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, surged 1.69 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.74 percent.

Foreign investors were again net sellers to the tune of nearly VND180 billion on all three bourses. The most net sold stocks were VNM of Vinamilk and Vietnam’s three biggest lenders, which are CTG, BID and VCB.