The VN-Index climbed to near 530 points on Aug. 24, buoyed by a strong increase in blue chip shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

The Index rose 1.74 percent to close at 528.2, while trading remained brisk. Transactions on the exchange totalled 2.3 trillion VND (129.2 million USD) on a volume of 53.3 million shares.

Many major stocks gained on Aug. 24 after largely treading water last week, giving the Index a strong impetus to resist downward pressure from heavy sales on Aug. 24 of penny stocks.

Blue chips FPT, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAG) and Phu My Fertilisers (DPM) all hit the ceiling of their regulated trading bands by the end of the day.

Sacombank (STB) continued as the most active share on the southern exchange with 3.9 million traded, followed closely by VietFund Management (VFMVF1) with 3.8 million.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Aug. 24, the HNX-Index also rose 1.59 percent to end the day at 164.56, on a volume of 33.9 million shares, worth a combined 1.19 trillion VND (66.8 million USD).

Construction shares showed the heaviest activity on the northern bourse, with recently listed PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) generating orders for 3.8 million shares, and Vinaconex Group (VCG) 2.9 million.

Enterprises were gradually escaping from economic difficulties due to the Government stimulus package, fuelling stronger investor hopes for recovery and leading to recent exciting developments on the stock market, said Tong Minh Tuan, deputy director of the BIDV Securities Co analysis department.

“In comparison with the beginning of June when the VN-Index reached a peak of 525, economic conditions are much better now, so the 550-point mark can be anticipated in the short term,” Artex Securities Co analysts wrote in a report.

What would be able to further spur investor expectations in the coming days, they suggested, were brighter global economic prospects, boosted exports, and better inflation figures in August. In the meantime, buys by foreign investors hit a two-week high on Aug. 24, although overall volumes stayed modest on both exchanges.

In HCM City, foreign investors were responsible for net buys of 801,000 shares worth 75 billion VND (4.2 million USD), on an overall volume of 5.5 million shares. In Hanoi , they were net buyers of 1.5 million shares, worth a total of 64.3 billion VND (3.6 million USD), on an overall volume of 1.9 million shares.

Buys were focused on Kinh Bac Urban Development (KBC) while Alphanam Group (ALP) was the share most likely to be sold on Aug. 24 by foreign investors./.