Shares rose steadily on Aug. 22 morning with over two-thirds of codes posting gains on the nation's stock exchanges, even as domestic gold prices continued to heat up in Hanoi to around 48 million VND per tael (2,286 USD).

Global gold prices stood at around 1,890 USD per ounce. (One tael is equivalent to 1.2 ounces.)

Thriving sessions on both stock exchanges took market insiders by surprise on Aug. 22, since trading in stocks was generally been sluggish during periods of gold fever.

However, relatively low inflation figures were reported on Aug. 22 for the nation's major cities during August. Consumer prices posted a one-month rise of 1.06 percent in Hanoi and 0.68 percent in HCM City, stoking investor hopes that the national inflation rate for August will come in at under 1 percent compared to the prior month.

On the HCM Stock Exchange on Aug. 22, the VN-Index gained 1.3 percent over Friday's close to end on Aug. 22's session at 406.03 points. The value of trades increased slightly to 474 billion VND (22.8 million USD), with about 31.2 million shares changing hands.

Blue chips, including PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Refrigeration & Electrical Engineering (REE), Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) , hit their ceiling prices.

Food producer Masan Group (MSN), one of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation, ran against the trend, plunging by 1 percent to 100,000 VND (4.80 USD) a share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index posted a more substantial gain of 3.54 percent to finish at 69.92 points, while a whopping 133 out of 248 rising codes hit their ceiling prices. However, market value fell slightly from Aug. 19 to about 363.5 billion VND (17.5 million USD) on a volume of 34 million shares./.