Benchmark indices continued to add value during the December 10 session.

The VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange closed at 511.60 points, up 0.07 percent, while the VN30 tracking the southern bourse's leading shares lost 0.2 percent to 572.13 points.

Among the 30 blue chips represented by the VN30, losers overwhelmed gainers by 19-4.

Meanwhile, trading value and volume on the bourse dropped around 55 percent compared to the December 9 level, reaching 1 billion VND (47,619 USD) and 81 million shares.

Property developer FLC Group (FLC) was the most active stock in Ho Chi Minh City on December 10, seeing over 11 million shares change hands at the ceiling price.

"The market still follows an uptrend," said Mekong Housing Bank Securities Co's analyst Hoang Thach Lan. "But the increase is slow, and the VN-Index will probably reach 530 points by year-end."

According to Tran Minh Hoang from Vietcombank Securities Company, December was a "Santa Claus rally", and the motivation for the rally would become apparent in mid-month thanks to exchange-traded funds and the anticipated improved economic data.

"In addition, as corporate performance has been enhanced, I hope companies will announce higher targets for next year," he said.

Hoang also advised investors to consider investing in blue chips, which had not gained much recently. Other analysts suggested investors could save up to 60 per cent of their portfolios on these shares.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index edged up 0.03 percent to 66.14 points. The HNXFF Composite, also managed to add 0.05 percent to end the session at 66.27 points.

Large-cap stocks, however, drove the HNX30 down 0.13 percent to reach 125.37 points.

As more than 39.9 million shares were exchanged, trading value totalled 272.7 billion VND (12.8 million USD).

Meanwhile, foreign investors reduced their net buying value in Ha Noi by 66.5 per cent to 6.7 billion VND (316,000 USD), and becoming net sellers in Ho Chi Minh City at 4.7 billion VND (221,690 USD).-VNA