Insurance shares took the lead on the market on July 7 to drive the VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange to reach the benchmark of 630 points.

The VN-Index was up 0.81 percent to close July 7 session at 630.27 points on a balanced performance with 113 gainers and 113 decliners.

All insurance shares rose, with three hitting the ceiling prices, including BIDV Insurance Corporation (BIC), Bao Minh Insurance Corporation (BMI) and Bao Viet Holdings (BVH).

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Vietinbank (CTG) received strong foreign purchases from the market and made gains of 5.53 and 2.46 percent, respectively.

Other blue chips, including Ma San Group (MSN), Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Corporation (VNM), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and Southern Rubber Industry Joint Stock Company (CSM) also recorded significant gains in their market values.

However, the market growth was somehow held back by some large-cap shares. The Petrovietnam Drilling and Well Service Corporation (PVD) dropped by 1.58 percent while Vietcombank lost 0.92 percent on the market.

Securities shares – one of the four main shares on the market – extended their losses from the previous session. Two large-cap securities shares, HCM City Securities Corporation (HCM) and Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI), decreased.

FLC Group (FLC) was the most active code on the market with more than 11 million shares traded. Japan Vietnam Medical Instrument Joint Stock Company (JVC) continued to record a large trading volume with 10 million shares traded.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 0.03 percent to end at 89.44 points as most gas and securities shares fell from the previous session.

There was no remarkable trading on the northern bourse on July 7, except that Hanoi Investment General Corporation (SHN) rose by 9.76 percent in market value to 13,500 VND per share and traded only 1 million shares.

FIT Investment JSC (FIT) was the most active code on the northern bourse, trading 6.7 million shares and gaining 2.36 percent to reach 13,000 VND per share.

Overall, foreign investors slightly extended their total buy value on the national stock market to 75 billion VND (3.47 million USD). The market traded nearly 233.6 million shares worth 3.87 trillion VND (179 million USD).-VNA