The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the VN-Index is based, saw 222 tickers gaining and 175 losing. Total trading volume slumped nearly 20 percent over the previous session to VND6.36 trillion ($274.51 million).

The benchmark index had hovered below its opening of 903.98 points for most of the trading day, until 2 p.m. when it changed direction and shot back up into the green.

The VN30-Index for the stock market’s 30 largest caps grew 0.27 percent, with 18 stocks rising and 9 falling.

Topping gains this session is STB of private Sacombank, up 3.8 percent, followed by MSN of food conglomerate Masan Group, with 1.9 percent, and SSI of brokerage Saigon Securities Inc., with 1.2 percent.

Other major gainers included POW of electricity generator PetroVietnam Power, with 1 percent, MWG of electronics retailer Mobile World and NVL of real estate developer Novaland, both with 0.8 percent, and SBT of agricultural firm TTC-Sugar, with 0.7 percent.

Mid-sized lenders in the banking sector were mostly in the green this session. MBB of state-owned Military Bank rose 0.5 percent, HDB of HDBank and TCB of Techcombank both added 0.2 percent, while EIB of Eximbank and VPB of VPBank both kept their opening prices.

VIC of private conglomerate Vingroup, HoSE’s largest capped stock, remained flat, while VRE of its retail arm Vincom Retail and VHM of real estate arm Vinhomes gained 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

Of Vietnam’s three largest state-owned banks by assets, only BID of BIDV was up 0.4 percent, while VCB of Vietcombank shed 0.6 percent, and CTG of VietinBank was down 0.2 percent.

The biggest losing ticker this session was SAB of major brewer Sabeco, down 0.9 percent, followed by ROS of construction firm FLC Faros, with 0.9 percent, and PLX of petroleum distributor Petrolimex, with 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index for the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid- and small-capped stocks, added 0.9 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for the Unlisted Public Companies Market gained 0.34 percent.

Foreign investors were again net sellers to the tune of VND252 billion on all three bourses, down over 50 percent compared to the net sell magnitude of the previous session. The most net sold stocks were HPG of steel maker Hoa Phat Group, which was up 0.2 percent, and VNM of Vinamilk, down 0.3 percent.