HÀ NỘI — Shares edged higher on Thursday morning on strong utilities stocks. 

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) rose 0.56 per cent to 1,162.25 points. The market breadth was still positive with 267 stocks climbing, while 157 stocks went down.

While many stocks from banking, construction, production and logistics declined after strong increases yesterday, energy stocks of utilities still rose more than 2 per cent such as PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) up 3.34 per cent, PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) up 2 per cent, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) up 4.37 per cent. 

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index also posted a gain of 0.05 per cent this morning to 1,175.45 points. Of the 30 large-cap stocks, 14 increased and 14 declined. 

In the morning session, nearly 431 million shares were traded in the southern market, worth over VNĐ10.36 trillion.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 0.33 per cent to end the morning session at 231.32 points.

The HXN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks in the northern market, also rose 0.73 per cent to 353.27 points. VNS