An investor watches market movements on a computer. Vietnamese shares followed the upbeat trading of global stocks on hopes trade tensions will be dealt with shortly. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares edged higher on Friday morning, following positive developments in global markets.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange rose 0.38 per cent to close at 951.78 points.

The VN-Index fell 0.34 per cent on Thursday.

Local stocks were boosted by investor confidence after US stocks moved positive on expectations the US-Mexico trade tensions would be resolved shortly.

But the market was still volatile as a number of investors were willing to offload assets and run away before more bad news arrived.

On the southern exchange, 165 stocks advanced while 90 declined.

More than 81.3 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ1.66 trillion (US$71.3 million).

Insurance, stock broking, petroleum and mining, retail, technology, and seafood processing were among the best-performing sectors in the morning session.

Those sector indices gained between 0.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The large-cap VN30-Index was up 0.43 per cent to end at 865.00 points with 18 of the 30 largest stocks by market value and trading liquidity progressing.

Among the gainers were real estate firm Novaland (NVL), Military Bank (MBB), IT giant FPT Corporation (FPT), SSI Securities Inc (SSI) and digital retailer Mobile World (MWG).

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased by 0.41 per cent to end at 103.45 points.

The northern market index lost 0.49 per cent on Thursday.

Nearly 15 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ163.5 billion.

The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm. — VNS