Auto stocks are drawing interest from investors as they continue to climb.

The five auto stocks listed on the two exchanges are Hong Huy Investment Services Co (HHS), TMT Automobile Co (TMT), Saigon General Service Corp (SVC), Hang Xanh Motors Service Co (HAX) and Truong Long Auto & Technology Co (HTL).

The Vietnamese stock market saw sluggish trading early this year, with the VN-Index increasing just 1.6 percent and HNX-Index dropping 3.8 percent.

Nevertheless, auto stocks advanced significantly, propped up by encouraging business results and a positive outlook for the auto market in 2015.

HTL witnessed the biggest growth, with the share price climbing 154 percent from 25,200 VND (1.16 USD) in December to 64,000 VND on May 8. TMT also saw strong development with a rise of 98 percent in value, while other stocks made gains between 10-43 percent during the period.

This development was attributed to positive earnings, with HHS reporting a consolidated net profit of 54.7 billion VND (2.5 million USD) in the first four months.

HAX has yet to release its first quarter earnings report, but other auto companies have posted positive results.

TMT earned an after-tax profit of nearly 41 billion VND (1.9 million USD) in the three months ending March, a four-fold increase compared with the same period last year, while Truong Long Auto saw its profit rise by 340 percent to 18.7 billion VND (862,000 USD) in the first quarter. SVC had the smallest growth of 27 percent during the period, with a combined profit reaching 125 billion VND (5.8 million USD) from January-March.

According to market insiders, auto sales in Vietnam were likely to continue to grow this year with rising demand.

Total auto sales reached almost 16,400 vehicles ending March, an increase of 62 percent against the same period last year, of which imports surged 69 per cent while locally assembled cars increased 60 percent during the period, Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) reported.-VNA