PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) workers at its plant. GAS rose 2.3 per cent Tuesday. — Photo pvgas.com.vn

HÀ NỘI - Vietnamese shares managed to maintain an upward trend after a volatile afternoon trading session amid large differences in large-cap prices.

On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index gained 0.37 per cent to end Tuesday at 1,494.39 points.

It had gained 0.80 per cent to end Monday at 1,488.88 points.

The market's breadth was neutral with 224 gainers and 242 losers.

Liquidity declined compared to the previous session with 1 billion shares traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VNĐ29 trillion (US$1.3 million).

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, gained 0.59 per cent to end at 1,523.54 points. Fourteen out of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket posted gains, while 14 decreased.

In the VN-30 group, bluechips experienced large variety in prices, with gainers including Sabeco (SAB), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Masan Group (MSN), Mobile World Group (MWG) and Vietjet (VJC).

On the other side, losers were Vinamilk (VNM), Vincom Retail (VRE), Vingroup (VIC), Phú Nhuận Jewelry (PNJ), Phát Đạt Real Estate (PDR) and Novaland (NVL).

Banking stocks performed well and attracted huge cash flow with many gainers such as Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB), Vietinbank (CTG), HDBank (HDB), VPBank (VPB), Vietcombank (VCB), Tiên Phong Bank (TPB), Techcombank (TCB) and Sacombank (STB).

“The VN-Index once again challenged the resistance zone of 1,480 - 1,490 points zone, but the selling pressure has cooled down this time,” said Việt Dragon Securities Co.

“With the momentum, it is likely that the VN-Index will break this zone and form a short term up trend. As a result, investors can go along with the recovery and can make short term investments in stocks with good fundamentals and at strong supporting zones,” it said.

“Besides, they should be cautious of stocks coupled with the hidden risk,” it said.

Thirteen out of 25 sector indices on the stock market posted gains, including oil and gas, construction, retail, banking, real estate, seafood production, healthcare food and beverage, and construction materials.

On the other side, losers were wholesale insurance, securities, IT, agriculture, rubber production and logistics.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 1.92 per cent to end at 458.05 points. — VNS