The VN-Index poked its nose above 400 for the first time in seven months last week, picking up a cumulative 14.42 points over five trading sessions to end the week at 404.58, an increase of 3.7 per cent over the previous Friday's close.


Volumes and values meanwhile reached record highs on the HCM City Stock Exchange, with an average of 58 million shares changing hands per day, an increase of 19 per cent over the previous week's daily average. Daily turnover averaged VND1.78 trillion (US$100 million), an increase of 24 per cent.


Tourism shares made the sharpest gains on the week, up 19.59 per cent, according to FPT Securities Co data, followed by communications shares, up 13.62 per cent, and construction and building materials, up 10.86 per cent.


Retail shares were the worst performers, slumping 36.95 per cent, followed by chemicals, down 6.19 per cent, and technology stocks, down 4.18 per cent.


Foreign investors were only moderately active last week, responsible for the trades of 31.4 million shares.


They focused their buys on shares of Sacombank ([url="http://www.vietstock.com.vn/vstfinance/StockDetail.aspx?scode=STB&q=STB" target=_blank>STB), picking up a net 2.7 million STB shares, according to VNDirect Securities Co. Construction firm Vinaconex (VCG) was the least favoured by foreign investors, who unloaded a net of over a million