Soaring prices of steel shares on the HCM City Stock Exchange on Monday helped lift the VN-Index to 514.79, a gain of 0.84 per cent.
Gainers outnumbered decliners by 133-46, but the value of the day's trades declined by 5 per cent from Friday's session to just below VND1.7 trillion (US$87.4 million), on a modest volume of 43.5 million shares.
Nearly all steel shares rose to their ceiling prices, however, including Viet Nam-Italy Steel (VIS), Tien Len Steel (TLH) and Asia Huu Lien (HLA), supported by news that steel prices had risen from an average of VND1.2 million ($63.16) to VND2 million ($105.26) per tonne since the beginning of the year.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index advanced by a surer 1.87 per cent to close at 167.18. The volume of the day's trades rose by over 41 per cent to more than 34.8 million shares, worth a combined VND1.16 trillion ($61.1 million), up 36 per cent from the value of the Friday's session.
Steel shares on the northern bourse, such as Produce and Trading Metal (KKC) and Viet Nam-Germany Steel Pipe (VGS), also skyrocketed, along with construction shares like PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) and Vinaconex (VCG). PVX claimed the position as most-active share nationwide, on a volume of 6.37 million traded.
The Ha Noi market yesterday also welcomed the listing of 13.5 million shares by An Phat Securities Company (APG). APG closed its first day of trading off 11.6 per cent from its opening price to VND15,900 ($0.84) per share, on a volume of 120,600 shares.
"The optimistic attitude of investors sparked late last week was extended to yesterday's trades, helping the VN-Index score," said FPT Securities Company analysts wrote in their daily report.
The US stock market continued to rise, while the State Bank of Viet Nam's continued to eye measures to deregulate short-term lending interest rates, boosting investor confidence, the report said.

"Credit growth in the first quarter reached only 3.34 per cent which means there's still a lot of room for further credit growth," said an analyst with Au Viet Securities Company who asked to remain anonymous. He predicted the market this week would advance cautiously.
Foreign investors were once again net buyers yesterday on both bourses, picking up a combined net of VND86 billion ($4.5 million) worth of shares.