The VN-Index made slight gains on October 18, driven mostly by blue chips, closing up by 0.38 percent over the previous day to 398.51 points.

Trading on the HCM Stock Exchange was sluggish, as both the volume and value of trades plunged to about half of the previous session. The value of trades was just 450 billion VND (21.4 million USD) on a volume of 35 million shares.

Among the southern bourse's 30 leading shares, Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) and Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) rose to the ceiling, while dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), Vietinbank (CTG), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) all saw gains of 1.2-2.6 percent.

Overall, the VN30 Index closed up by 0.55 percent to 471.96.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, shares declined in the afternoon session, and the HNX-Index lost 0.2 percent to finish the session at 55.82 points.

The value of trades reached only 207.2 billion VND (10 million USD) on a value of 30.4 million shares.-VNA