Vietnam’s benchmark continued to gain on Thursday with investors reassured by the shares’ solid performance on Wednesday and the bullish global market.

The VN-Index that tracks 176 companies and four mutual funds on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange rose 1.9 percent or 11.73 points to 617.38, the highest since March 14, 2008. Among the index members, 132 advanced, 32 dropped and 16 remained unchanged.

The market closed with the most active trading ever as more than 107.2 million shares worth VND5.6 trillion (US$313.5 million) changed hands, breaking the recent record by volume of 90 million shares on September 23.

Real estate, finance and banking stocks performed well.

Saigon Commercial Bank or Sacombank (STB) climbed to the most active spot as more than 8 million shares were traded on the city bourse, followed by Vietnam’s largest listed brokerage Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) with more than 6 million shares. Vietnam Securities Investment Fund (VF1) remained in the top three active issues with more than 4.3 million shares change hands.

Declines in the southern market were led by Hai Phong-based paper maker Hapaco (HAP), the HCMC-based steel maker Vietnam-Italy Joint Stock Co. (VIS), and Thac Mo Hydropower Joint Stock Company (TMP) in Binh Phuoc Province, not far from HCMC.

The northern market continued to gain as the HNX-Index rose 2.99 percent or 6.15 points to 211.51. More than 57.8 million shares worth nearly VND2.7 billion changed hands.

The UPCOM-Index also kept up a good pace closing at 70.94, up 1.81 points or 2.62 percent from Wednesday. Trading was more than double the day earlier as 473,390 shares were traded at VND6.43 billion.

On the global market, the US Dow passed the 10,000 level for the first time in a year on earnings optimism while Britain’s FTSE 100 closed 2 percent higher at 5,256.10, hitting its highest closing level in more than a year.

Shares in Asia rose to their highest since last August while Japanese stocks jumped 2 percent as investors bought exporters who might benefit from rising US demand.