231 stocks gained and 132 lost on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based. Of 34 stocks on this bourse that hit their ceiling prices this session, only one was a blue chip.

Total trading volume remained above average, reaching VND6.37 trillion ($276.75 million), but only 43 percent of which went into the VN30, a basket of the market’s 30 biggest capped stocks. The VN30 usually accounts for over 50 percent of daily trading.

The VN30-Index for stocks in this basket rose 0.33 percent, with 12 stocks gaining and 11 losing.

ROS of real estate developer FLC Faros topped gains again with 6.8 percent, its ceiling price. However, because ROS is the smallest cap in the VN30, it is the most volatile in this basket, often fluctuating from floor to ceiling prices between two sessions.

Private banks were some of the best performers, with VPB of VPBank rising 2.1 percent, TCB of Techcombank adding 1.2 percent, and EIB of Eximbank gaining 0.3 percent.

Other gainers included CTD of construction giant Coteccons and HPG of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, both rising 1.7 percent, followed by VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, up 1.2 percent, and BID of BIDV, the country’s biggest state-owned bank by assets, which gained 0.7 percent.

In the opposite direction, GAS of energy giant PetroVietnam Gas topped losses with 1.3 percent. In oil and gas, both POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex fell 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

Among losers in the banking sector, HDB of HDBank fell 1.1 percent, CTG of state-owned banking giant VietinBank,  0.8 percent and MBB of state-owned midsized lender Military Bank, 0.6 percent.

Other losers included VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, the market’s largest cap, which fell 1 percent, while MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group shed 0.8 percent.  

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for stocks on Hanoi Stock Exchange rose 0.56 percent and the UPCoM-Index for stocks on Unlisted Public Companies Market edged up 0.18 percent.

Foreign investors’ net sell on all three bourses rose again, by 25 percent, reaching VND200 billion ($8.69 million). Selling pressure was mostly on HPG of Hoa Phat Group, and the E1VFVN30, an exchange-traded-fund which imitates the composition, and in turn the performance of the VN30.