Significant buys in the final minutes of Friday's session on the HCM City Stock Exchange helped the VN-Index manage a gain of 0.39 percent on the day to close at 496.91.
Trading value and volume began to suggest a recovery from the doldrums surrounding the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, with activity totalling VND1.5 trillion (US$78.9 million) on a volume of 34.9 million shares.
The announcement by the Ministry of Finance yesterday that electricity rates would rise 6.8 per cent on March 1 helped make Vinh Son-Song Hynh Hydropower (VSH) the most-active share, with 2.3 million traded during the session.
"When electricity rates go up, power plants will benefit, and it would be lucrative to start investing in them now," said Nguyen Thanh Huyen, an investor with VPBank Securities Company.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index closed largely unchanged at 162.43, while the value of trades remained modest at VND438.3 billion ($23 million) on a volume of 13.9 million shares.
Kim Long Securities Company (KLS) continued as the most-active share on the northern bourse, with 2.3 million changing hands.
Johan Kruimer, an analyst at the HCM City Stock Exchange, said that equity prices seemed to be holding up quite well despite the reigning uncertainty, and that for the moment it seemed that the downside risk was fairly limited.
"We might be facing a period of a couple of weeks which will be characterised by relatively low volatility and consolidating prices," he said, noting that the most likely scenario still called for higher prices as soon as the investment community saw "some light at the end of the consolidation tunnel".
Woori CBV Securities Co's research team concurred that a steep correction was unlikely thanks to the steady improvement in trading volume and a repeated appearance of high demand for shares for at least 15 minutes during each session, helping erase other losses on the day.
Concerns remained among investors over the rising costs facing domestic businesses, including a rumour that the central bank might lift the cap on lending interest rates, currently holding them at no more than 150 per cent of the prime rate.