Stock prices rose this morning on both stock exchanges, boosted by the merger between Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) and Habubank (HBB).

The two banks organised a conference this morning to officially announce their merger - the first ever merger between two listed banks in the history of Viet Nam's stock market.

HBB shares will no longer be traded on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange from August 17, and the two shares will complete their swaps by August 28. New shares will be traded from September 20.
Both shares hit ceiling prices by the end of this morning's session. While SHB closed at VND9,500 ($0.45), HBB ended at VND5,100 ($0.24).
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the benchmark HNX-Index closed up 0.62 per cent at 70.92 points.
Trading value improved 27 per cent over yesterday morning, reaching over VND242.2 billion ($11.5 million) on trades of 25.5 million shares.

Blue chips on the bourse also increased with the HNX30 tracking the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity up 129 per cent at 136.84 points.

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) was the most active with a total trade of nearly 3 million shares, rising 2.3 per cent to VND8,800 a share.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index also inched up 0.74 per cent to 426.72 points on an improved turnover of VND560 billion ($26.7 million).

Blue chips tracked by the VN30 also added 0.85 per cent to close at 508 points, with Tan Tao Industry Investment (ITA) being the most active on trades of 1.96 million shares, up 1.4 per cent to close this morning at VND7,000.

Trading will resume at 1pm