The index was in the red most of the morning and dipped to 1,225 points but then recovered in the afternoon to close with a near 30-point gain. This partly made up for the 56-point plunge Monday.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, dropped 18 percent to VND17.9 trillion ($778.7 million). The bourse saw 281 tickers gain and 94 lose.

HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group contributed most to VN-Index’s gain this session with 3.6 points, followed by VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank, 3.2 points and VHM of real estate giant Vinhomes, 2.1 points.

The three tickers gained 6.8 precent, 3.3 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks, saw 28 tickers gain, with SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation leading with 6.9 percent.

Other strong gainers included MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World, 5.2 percent, and HDB of HDBank, 4.7 percent.

The only two blue chip tickers to close in the red were KDH of real estate firm Khang Dien House, down 1.1 percent, and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail, 0.4 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of VND325 billion, with strongest pressure on Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) and VIC of biggest private conglomerate Vingroup.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, gained 3.1 percent while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 1.33 percent.