Blue chips performed well in the morning of March 8 to lift the VN-Index on the HCM City market for the third day in a row.

The index rose 1.53 percent to 475.38 points, despite losers outnumbering gainers by 121:99.

Large capitalised stocks performed steadily, with dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), resort developer Vinpearlland (VPL), property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) rising to their ceiling prices.

Shares in influential insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) gained 3.6 percent while Masan Group (MSN) rose 3.4 percent.

Banking stocks suffered a slight slide of 1 percent, after rumours of the Government ban on forex shops spread out on March 7.

Trading volume gained 26.3 percent from Monday's session to 29.8 million shares, totalling a value of 700.4 billion VND (32.6 million USD).

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) remained the most active stock, with 1.7 million shares changing hands after closing down 1.8 percent at 22,100 VND.

On the Hanoi market, the HNX-Index fell 0.63 percent to finish today's session at 90.05 points.

Trade volume slowed down to 30.1 million shares, worth a value of 405.8 billion VND (18.9 million USD). Losers doubled gainers with 170 shares falling./.