Shares finished mixed on April 13 on the two exchanges as investors became more cautious ahead of the earnings season.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index added 0.99 percent to close the session at 559.54 points.

The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, also edged up 1.1 percent to end at 589.77 points.

Large-cap stocks continued to drive market momentum, with many of the VN30 stocks making substantial gains.

Masan Group (MSN) was the biggest gainer, rising 5.3 percent in value, while other blue chips like VinGroup (VIC), Vietcombank (VCB), Vinamilk (VNM), Bao Viet Holdigns (BVH), Phu My Fertiliser (DPM) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells Service Corp (PVD) rose between 1.1-2.3 percent.

PV Gas (GAS), the largest stock in terms of market capitalisation but not a member of the VN30, also jumped 1.85 percent.

However, sluggish trading continued to drain liquidity. Both market volume and value dropped 30 percent compared with Friday, totaling over 72 million shares worth almost 1.4 trillion VND (64.8 million USD).

FLC Group (FLC) was the most active code with 8.5 million shares changing hands, but ended flat at 10,600 VND (49 cents).

With the lack of blue chip support, the HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange fell 0.4 percent to finish the day at 82.66 points.

Selling pressure increased, pulling many leading shares down. Decliners outnumbered advancers by 105-88, while 175 codes closed unchanged.

Nearly 44 million shares worth 520.35 billion VND (24.1 million USD) were exchanged by the end of the session.

F.I.T Investment Co (FIT) took the lead with a trading volume of 4.2 million shares, but fell 2.8 percent to end at 14,000 VND (65 cents).

Foreign investors remained net buyers on the two markets, but value declined against the previous session to 114 billion VND (5.3 million USD). Their purchases focused on the southern bourse with a value of 108 billion VND (5 million USD), down 52 percent from the previous session.-VNA