Shares on both stock exchanges increased for the fourth day in a row yesterday, continuing an uptrend in the medium term.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index added another 0.95 per cent to finish yesterday's session at nearly 410 points.

Blue chips continued to propel the upward trend as the VN30, tracking the top 30 shares, also rose 1.03 per cent to close at 480.85 points.

Trading volume climbed to a five-month high of 79.45 million shares, worth more than VND1.31 trillion (US$62.7 million), up 51 per cent from Wednesday's value.

Vietinbank (CTG) came into the spotlight yesterday following the news that the bank had signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Tokyo Mistsubishi UFJ. The domestic lender agreed to sell a 20 per cent stake, worth $743 million, to the Japanese bank, concluding the biggest merger and acquisition deal in Viet Nam's banking industry.

More than 2.6 million CTG shares changed hands by the end of yesterday's session, but shares closed flat at VND20,300 ($0.97) a share after climbing to VND20,700 in the morning.
Property developer Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) was the most active code on the southern bourse on trades of 3.57 million shares. ITA also closed unchanged at VND4,600 a share.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also edged 0.41 per cent up to 56.15 points while the trading value jumped 41 per cent over Wednesday, totalling VND569.7 billion ($27.3 million).
With more than 22.6 million shares traded by the end of the session, Sai Gon – Ha Noi Bank (SHB) was the most heavily traded stock nationwide. PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) closely followed with total trades of 11.2 million shares. Trading of the two shares made up 39 per cent of total volume on the northern bourse.

SHB climbed 3.7 per cent to VND5,600 a share while PVX gained 3.9 per cent to close at VND5,300.

"The fact that both markets have grown and maintained stable trading volumes in recent sessions is a very positive sign. We expect the market will continue to rise in the coming sessions," analysts of BIDV Securities Co wrote in a report, noting that the strong uptrend would persuade more investors to return to the market.

Foreign investors also increased their buys in the HCM City exchange, picking up VND364 billion ($17.4 million) worth of shares yesterday, although they bought only VND12.6 million ($603) on the Ha Noi bourse.