Markets exploded on May 20 as traders invested in strong numbers on the two exchanges, lifting both indices and liquidity.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index soared 2.47 percent, adding over 13 points to close the session at 550.10 points. The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, rose 2.86 percent to end at 572.34 points.

Shares performed well with many hitting their ceiling price. The number of advancers overwhelmed decliners by 207-39, and only 57 stocks went flat.

Liquidity grew substantially. Both market volume and value climbed over 35 percent from Tuesday's levels, totaling at 129 million shares worth 1.79 trillion VND (82.5 million USD) by the end of the session.

Three stocks had trades of more than 10 million shares on the day - Ocean Group (OGC), HCM City Infrastructure Investment Corp (CII) and FLC Group (FLC) - of which OGC was the most active code with nearly 13 million shares exchanged.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also rose steadily since morning, gaining 2.45 percent to finish the session at 79.34 points.

The market condition was looking bright with the number of gainers tripling losers.

Liquidity improved by 50 percent over the previous day in both volume and value. Almost 60 million shares worth a total 678 billion VND (31.2 million USD) were traded by the end of the afternoon.

KLF Joint Venture Global Investment Co (KLF) remained the most active stock with nearly nine million shares traded to end the session at 7,200VND a share.

The Hanoi's exchange saw the first listing of more than 16 million shares of the Vietnam Enterprise Investment and Development Co (FID) the same day. The shares rose 1.74 percent in value for its first day, closing at 11,700 VND (0.54 USD) with over 650,000 shares traded.

Foreign investors continued to collect shares in the two markets but their buys decreased slightly over the day before, reaching just 114 billion VND (5.3 million USD) worth of shares in both markets.-VNA