The VN-Index rose by 0.9 per cent yesterday to close at 511.91, as trading volume on the HCM City Stock Exchange soard to a three-month record high of over 50 million shares, worth a combined VND2.3 trillion (US$121 million).
Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) was the most-active share on the day, with over 2.3 million traded, after the company announced on Wednesday that it would sell 11,270 repurchased shares to correct a trading error December 25 last year.
Sales of over 300,000 SSI shares by foreign investors yesterday were an additional factor in driving up volume in this code.
SSI ended the day up by 1.15 per cent to close at VND88,000 ($4.60) per share.
High volumes yesterday were a signal of a market revival, wrote VNDirect Securities Co analysts in a report.
"The VN-Index will hold at above 510 this week," they wrote, noting that a floor of 500 points seemed solid.
"Technically, increases in trading volumes for eight consecutive sessions signal a stable market recovery," agreed Nguyen Khanh Hoang of Tai Viet Securities Co.
The central bank governor's statement on Wednesday that commercial banks now had VND30 trillion ($1.6 million) of disposable capital on hand was also a sign to investors that money flows would begin returning to the stock market, said Hoang.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index fell by nearly 1.1 per cent to a close of 168.36 points, as activity actually declined from Wednesday's total to just 29.5 million shares, worth a total of VND984.7 billion ($51.8 million).
The heaviest-traded share continued to be Kim Long Securities Co (KLS), which saw a volume yesterday of 4.8 million shares.
"Investors are impatient to wait one more day for greater profit, and they've taken advantage of favourable economic news to sell off accumulated shares," said Nguyen Duy Tan, a broker with a Ha Noi-based firm, noting that the Ha Noi market offered the relative advantage of a 7-per-cent trading band.
Tan said that the northern market correction was not a bad sign but just a symptom of day-trading mentality. "Favourable moves in the economy will immediately boost this market," he said.