Investors increased their activity on Dec. 26 afternoon, pushing shares up on both national stock exchanges.

Values of trades on the HCM Stock Exchange jumped 50 percent over the previous day's level, totalling 867.79 billion VND (41.5 million USD).

Blue chips increased substantially, lifting the benchmark VN-Index by 1.19 percent to a close of 406.10 points, while the VN30, tracking the top 30 shares, was up 1.45 percent to stand at 475.93 points. The top 30 shares traded strongly, with many among the most active codes on the southern bourse. Property developer Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) was the most active code with 4.4 million shares changing hands, with value rising 4.55 percent to close at 4,600 VND a share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also rose 1.6 percent to a close of 55.92 points, with trading value improving slightly to 405 billion VND (19.3 million USD).

Foreign investors were net buyers during the day on both markets, picking up a combined VND24 billion (1.1 million USD) worth of shares.

"Investors should make long-term investments in the stock market at this time," said Duong Van Chung, director of MB Securities Co.'s Private Client Services.

"Based on my personal experience, the stock market is quite sensitive to macro economics and it is likely to improve based on macro economic indicators released by the Government for the next 6-12 months," Chung said, adding that speculative money will react more quickly to the Government's policies in the first months of next year./.