Shares regained their upward trend on October 8 afternoon on the HCM City Stock Exchange after a slight decline in the morning, lifting the VN-Index 0.35 per cent to 502.22 points.

Meanwhile, the HNX-Index lost 0.26 percent to close at 61.23 points.

Strong cash flow into the HCM City Stock Exchange helped the VN-Index add value with more than 72 million shares exchanged, worth more than 1.13 trillion VND (53.8 million USD).

The VN30-Index, composed of the southern bourse's 30 largest shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, saw a slight rise of 0.18 per cent to 558.55 points.

Nearly 18,000 shares of Masan Group (MSN) were exchanged on October 8 with prices jumping nearly 2 percent to 84,500 VND (4.02 USD) per share. About 58 percent were bought by foreign investors.

Vietcombank (VCB) shares increased 2.1 percent to 28,400 VND (1.35 USD), thanks to foreign investors buying 588,000 shares.

Saigon Securities (SSI) was the most active stock with 4.2 million shares changing hands. The price rose 1.8 percent to 16,700 VND.

After news of the 390 VND per litre petrol price cut broke on October 7, the HNX-Index dropped 0.26 percent on trading of more than 44.291 million shares worth 374.11 billion VND (17.91 million USD).

The PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVX) was the market's highlight on October 8 with 11.9 million shares traded, occupying 30 percent of the total trading volume on the capital city's bourse.

The HNX30 Index lost 0.15 percent to close at 114.54 points on the day.

Foreign investors remained net buyers in the market with net value of 98.5 billion VND (4.69 million USD).-VNA