Shares extended gains this morning on the HCM City Stock Exchange but lost value on the Ha Noi exchange.

The Vn-Index opened low but rises of several large-cap shares lifted it by 0.44 per cent to 388.41 points by the end of the morning's session.

Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) soared 3.9 per cent and property developer Hong Anh Gia Lai (HAG) jumped 3.5 per cent while food processor Masan Group (MSN), Vietcombank (VCB) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) rose from 0.5-1.4 per cent.

The VN30 tracking the top 30 shares on the bourse was up 0.22 per cent to 454.71 points.
Overall, almost 24 million shares, worth VND318.9 billion (US$15.3 million), changed hands.
Sao Mai An Giang Construction and Investment (ASM) and Bac Giang Exploitable Mineral (BGM) were the most active stocks this morning with each code seeing nearly 1 million shares traded.

ASM gained 2.4 per cent to VND8,600 a share while BGM's increased 1.8 per cent to VN?5,600.

On the HA Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slid 0.36 per cent to close this morning at 52.52 points on a turnover of more than VND175 billion ($8.4 million).

Property developer Sacomreal (SCR) was again the most active code on the northern bourse on whopping trades of 6.57 million shares, climbing 2 per cent to VN?5,100 a share.

Trading will resume at 1pm.