Stocks closed in green on both exchanges yesterday, boosted by a strong showing from bank shares, nearly all of which made gains.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) was the biggest mover on the Ha Noi bourse, climbing 5 per cent, followed by Nam Viet Bank (NVB), up 4.7 per cent and Sacombank (STB) on the HCM City exchange, up 2.8 per cent.

Sai Gon- Ha Noi Bank (SHB), Eximbank (EIB), Military Bank (MBB) and Vietinbank (CTG) also rose from 0.5-2 per cent.

SHB was the most active stock in the Ha Noi market with 7.3 million shares changing hands, while EIB and MBB joined the action on the HCM City exchange with each code seeing over 1.26 million shares traded.

However, profit-taking activities in the afternoon slowed the market overall, with the VN-Index in the HCM City market gaining just 0.26 per cent to close yesterday's session at 392.21 points.

The VN30 tracking the top 30 shares on the bourse also rose 0.64 per cent to 460.74 points.
Trading volume decreased slightly from Thursday to just over 43 million shares, but the value of trades jumped 39 per cent to more than VND656.6 billion (US$31.4 million).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index grew 0.67 per cent to close at 54.44 points on a turnover of nearly VND265 billion ($12.7million).

According to many analysts, a long winning streak will likely be balanced out next week, but any decline will not be significant because shares have increased modestly from their lowest levels and investor confidence has been strengthened by the six-day growth.
"Corrections will also provide chances for investors to restructure their portfolios," analyst of Bao Viet Securities Co said.

Foreign investors concluded yesterday as net buyers on the HCM City exchange, picking up shares worth over VND30 billion ($1.4 million), but they were net sellers in the Ha Noi market, unloading shares worth almost VND5 billion ($293,200).