The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, was predominantly green with 242 tickers rising and 146 falling. Total trading volume rose slightly over the previous session, to VND4 trillion ($173.3 million), but was still 12 percent lower than last month’s average liquidity.

Trading again leaned towards tickers outside the VN30, a basket of the market’s 30 biggest caps. Non-VN30 stocks accounted for 62.5 percent of total trading, marking a change from the usual, when they attract less than half of daily cash flow.

Despite unpredictable developments of the second Covid-19 wave in Vietnam, some businesses are still posting positive growth, and so performance of stocks in each industry group will vary, based on how investors interpret companies’ second quarter financial reports and short-term business plans, explained Nguyen Hong Khanh, head analyst at brokerage firm VIS Securities.

Ngo Quoc Hung, a senior researcher at brokerage firm MB Securities (MBS), also observed that investors have recently shifted their cash from blue chips to smaller-capped stocks in search of new opportunities.

The VN30-Index this session gained 0.31 percent, less than that of the general market, with 21 tickers going up and only four going down.

Topping gains this session were POW of electricity firm PetroVietnam power and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, up 3.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas added 0.3 percent.

Real estate developers were also some of the best performers, with KDH of Khang Dien House and TCH of Hoang Huy Group both climbing 1.5 percent. ROS of FLC Faros gained 1.3 percent, VHM of giant Vinhomes, 0.5 percent, while NVL of Novaland kept its opening price.

Of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, VCB of Vietcombank went up 0.9 percent, BID of BIDV, 0.5 percent, and CTG of VietinBank, 0.4 percent.

Of private banks, TCB of Techcombank, STB of Sacombank and VPB of VPBank gained 0.7 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

SSI of top brokerage Saigon Securities Inc. and VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail were two other notable gainers, both having risen 1 percent.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the market’s biggest cap, was flat this session despite its subsidiaries VRE and VHM being some of the best performers.

In the red this session were HDB of private HDBank, down 0.9 percent, SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, 0.7 percent, and VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, down 0.3 percent.

The HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and smaller-caps, shot up 1.85 percent, and the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market added 0.14 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the ninth straight session, but net selling magnitude narrowed nearly 95 percent over Tuesday to just VND23 billion ($996,210). VNM of Vinamilk and MSN were the most offloaded stocks.