The volume of trades picked up on Aug. 29 on both national stock exchanges, which saw a combined market value of 1.2 trillion VND (58.1 million USD).

A reduction in the retail petrol price to 20,800 VND gave a small boost to the stock market, said Kim Eng Securities Co analyst Phan Dung Khanh.

"However, as the decline was so small – only 500 VND – compared to the expectations of investors, it could ultimately prove disappointing and have an adverse effect to their psychology," Khanh said.

While the domestic stock market rallied, the uptrend around the world was halted by bad news from US and European economies. "The measures of the US Federal Reserve in recent years only seem to have pushed gold prices to record highs rather than boost economic growth," said Khanh.

"Lowering interest rates when the economy is yet to fully recover will do more harm than good," he said.

On the HCM Stock Exchange , the VN-Index edged up 2.2 percent to conclude the day at 413.37 points. The value of trades rose 30 percent over on Aug. 26's level, reaching 615 billion VND (29.9 million USD), while the volume of trades increased by 38.4 percent to 40.7 million shares.

Of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation, insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), real estate developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) all climbed to their ceiling prices.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index reversed August 26's losses and gained 3 percent to close at 71.33 points. Some 53.4 million shares were exchanged for a value of 581.7 billion VND (28.2 million USD), representing a rise of 68.2 percent over August 26 in terms of value and 77.4 percent in volume.

Foreign investors were net sellers on both bourses, unloading a combined net of 34.1 billion VND (nearly 1.7 million USD).

"The market will possibly tread water this week while waiting on more cash to flow in," Khanh predicted./.