Vietnamese stocks struggled in volatile markets on Thursday morning with sentiment hit by increasing COVID-19 cases nationwide, but VN-Index managed to increase.

Bank stocks performed positively on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange and helped the benchmark VN-Index maintain growth momentum, adding 14.23 points, or 1.15%, from the session earlier to close at 1,256.43 points, May 5.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) does not support the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange's proposal to raise the board lot size to 1,000 while an infrastructure upgrade is coming.

The stock market closed the first session of May on a mixed note as the growth of banking shares rescued the VN-Index from a fall while the HNX-Index slumped due to the resurgence of COVID-19 in Viet Nam.

As the market benchmark VN-Index broke the psychological level of 1,200 points, along with many positive outlooks about the market, securities firms set big growth targets for 2021. Of which, many companies expected their profits to reach trillions of dong.

Việt Nam's stock market declined on Tuesday morning as investors sold large-cap stocks.

Viet Nam’s stock market recorded strong fluctuations last week, but the VN-Index still gained overall.

Positive sentiment among investors led to the expansion of three consecutive trading sessions by 20 points before the break, leading to the Vn-Index standing at nearly 1,240 on April 29.

Shares ended mixed Thursday with the VN-Index continuing its upward trend on bank stocks while foreign investors fled from the market.