The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 209 tickers rise and 179 fall.

Total trading volume hit VND7.5 trillion ($323.62 million), the highest daily liquidity achieved this month, and much higher than last month’s average of VND4.5 trillion ($194.17 million).

Nearly VND6 trillion of these trades were order-matched transactions, with no news on any major M&A deals taking place, which usually results in higher put-through orders, to have boosted liquidity this session.

The VN30-Index for the market’s 30 largest caps gained 0.68 percent, with 16 tickers in the green and eight in the red. However, blue chips continued to attract less than half of total trading volume as they had done in the past week, accounting for 44 percent this session.

Topping gains this session was MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, which surged 4.2 percent, followed by PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, up 3.9 percent, and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, with 3.1 percent.

The real estate sector was a mixed bag this session. KDH of Khang Dien House and TCH of Hoang Huy Group were two of the biggest gainers, both climbing 2.9 percent, ROS of FLC Faros was flat, while NVL of Novaland and VHM of Vinhomes fell 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest cap, gained 2.2 percent, while VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail edged up 0.2 percent.

The banking sector also saw mixed performances. Of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, CTG of VietinBank added 1.2 percent, VCB of Vietcombank kept its opening price, while BID of BIDV shed 0.4 percent.

TCB of Techcombank and MBB of state-owned Military Bank were the only mid-sized lenders in the green, up 1.7 percent and 1.4 percent respectively, EIB of Eximbank and HDB of HDBank were flat, while STB of Sacombank and VPB of VPBank dropped 0.4 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power and HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group led losses this session, both down 1 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and smaller-caps, edged up 0.17 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.36 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the third straight session to the tune of VND485 billion ($20.93 million) on all three bourses this session, with selling pressure mostly on VHM of Vinhomes and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, up 0.7 percent.