Active trading of many good stocks helped the VN-Index continue its upward trend for a third day, with a rise of 0.87 per cent to 448.27 points.


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[/table]About 63 of 160 shares and fund certificates in the market advanced, of which strong stocks accounted for the majority.
IMP of Imexpharm and ITA of Tan Tao Industrial Park were the biggest gainers among strong stocks yesterday. IMP climbed 2.91 per cent to VND106,000 as ITA hit 2.97 per cent to VND95,000.


The division of shares - based on business performance - is getting more obvious in the southern bourse as investors have concentrated their trading in shares demonstrating good business performance.


STB of Sacombank saw 4.26 million shares change hands yesterday while DPM of Phu My Fertilisers had 2.89 million shares. They helped raise the market's trading volume to 19.27 million shares with a turnover of VND673.59 billion (US$40.82 million).


Foreigners were active buyers yesterday of DPM, acquiring 951,140 shares. They also paid attention to FPT of Financing and Promoting of Technology, and PPC of Pha Lai Thermal Power.


Foreigners were net buyers yesterday, with a net volume of 2 million shares.


Nguyen Tien Dung, an independent securities analyst, said that the fall of oil prices on the world market explained the rise in foreign activity.


"The bad news from US banks might be over, encouraging foreigners in securities trading," Dung said, noting that if oil prices continue falling, it would help spur trading on local exchanges in up-coming sessions.


An official web site of the New York Stock Exchange reported that crude oil sat at $121.69 a barrel, a decline of 0.5 per cent.


The Ha Noi bourse saw a rebound "yesterday when the HASTC-Index went back to 145.46 points, an increase of 2.36 points or 1.65 per cent.


Trading volume closed higher than Tuesday's volume, standing at 9.95 million shares with a total revenue of VND377.01 billion ($22.84 million).


Financial stocks helped increase trading volume, including ACB of Asia Commercial Bank that saw 1.89 million shares change hands, while PVS of PetroVietnam Securities had 1.63 million shares traded, and KLS of Kim Long Securities traded 575,400 shares.