The VN-Index gained 1.6 percent during April 27's session on the HCM Stock Exchange to close at 469.32 points.

Volume reached nearly 28 million shares, worth a total of 593 billion VND (28.2 million USD), both figures down slightly compared to the previous day. The board was split almost equally between advancers and decliners.

Two large-cap shares hit their ceiling prices – food producer Masan Group (MSN), which closed at 113,000 VND, and real estate developer Vincom (VIC), which ended the day at 134,000 VND, reversing two sessions of declines. VIC is slated to issue 626,000 additional shares on April 29, worth about 6.26 billion VND (298,000 USD).

Strong demand for shares of insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), as well as MSN and VIC, helped lift the VN-Index to overall gains on the day, but demand for other shares saw little improvement.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index opened on an uptick until about 9:30 in the morning, when it moved back into negative territory for about an hour. By the end of the morning's session, however, the index managed to close up a modest 0.1 percent to 83.79 points.

Volume reached 26.5 million shares, worth 363 billion VND (17.3 million USD).

Decliners outweighed advancers overall on the northern bourse by 180-86.

Although indices rallied on both markets, volumes remained lower than 1 trillion VND, noted analysts from FPT Securities Co, adding that two elements necessary for a recovery remained lacking: investor optimism and significant cash inflows.

With the nation's inflation rate in April reaching a whopping 3.32 percent month-on-month, the State Bank of Vietnam was expected to continue tightening monetary policies, said Pham Thanh Thai Linh, head of Analysis Division of Bao Viet Securities Company. Investors were also worried about the possibility that commercial banks would be hit with a higher capital reserves requirement, further limiting the already meagre capacity of the markets to expand.

Foreign investors were net buyers on both exchanges, although the value of net buys on the HCM City bourse dropped by 38 percent from the previous day to 35.9 billion VND (1.7 million USD). Buys by foreign investors in Hanoi , meanwhile, doubled the previous day's total to 11 billion VND (524,000 USD)./.