The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, was predominantly green with 247 tickers gaining and 159 losing.

Total trading volume surged over 10 percent compared to the previous session, reaching VND7.25 trillion ($312.71 million), which is around the highest liquidity levels HoSE achieved this month apart from two sessions where there were big stake acquisitions made via put-through transactions.

Market sentiment seemed overall positive this session, with the VN-Index shooting up 4 points within the first 15 minutes of trading, and never falling back into the red.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps surged 1.01 percent, with 16 stocks gaining and 7 losing.

Topping gains this session was ROS of construction firm FLC Faros, up 4.7 percent, but gains of this stock had little impact on the VN30-Index as it is the smallest capped stock in the basket.

Banking stocks were some of the best performers this session. Of Vietnam’s three biggest state-owned lenders by assets, CTG of VietinBank climbed 3.6 percent, BID of BDIV 1.2 percent, while VCB of Vietcombank kept its opening price.

In the private sector, STB of Sacombank led gains with 3.8 percent, followed by VPB of VPBank, 2.1 percent, TCB of Techcombank, 2 percent, HDB of HDBank, 1 percent, and EIB of Eximbank, 0.6 percent.

Other major gainers this session included SSI of top brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., up 2.7 percent, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World, both up 2.5 percent, and MBB of state-owned mid-sized lender Military Bank, with 2 percent.

Among those in the yellow, which are stocks that saw no change in price, was VIC of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, and PNJ of jewelry retailer Phu Nhuan Jewelry.

Topping losses this session was VRE of mall operator Vincom Retail, down 2.1 percent, followed by energy giant PetroVietnam Gas with 1.2 percent, and VHM of real estate developer Vinhomes and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, both at 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, jumped 1.22 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market rose 0.8 percent.

Foreign investors were again net sellers to the tune of VND389 billion on all three bourses. The most net sold stocks were VNM of Vinamilk, which was up 0.5 percent, and VRE of Vincom Retail.