Shares extended last week's rally on both national stock exchanges on Aug. 20.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange added another 0.88 percent to reach 437.28 points, as advancers overwhelmed decliners by 139-70.

The VN30 index, which represents the city's 30 best stocks led by capitalisation and liquidity, also edged up 1.1 percent to stand at 521.28 points.

The VN30's blue chips performed well, with only infrastructure investment group Tan Tao (ITA) and Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) retreating.

The overall value of trades on the southern bourse increased slightly, compared to lthe previous session's level, to 757.9 billion VND (36 million USD) on a volume of 41.5 million shares.

Military Bank (MBB) was the most active listed code with 2.4 million shares changing hands.

Oil and gas stocks listed in HCM City have recently been among the best performing shares. Phu My Fertiliser (DPM), gas giant PetroVietnam Gas Corp (GAS) and PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution Co (PGD) currently enjoy high profits and have a bright outlook.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index put on 0.43 percent, reaching 70.65 points.

Investors traded over 32 million shares, worth a total value of 308 billion VND (14.6 million USD).

Major stocks in Hanoi helped the HNX30 inch up by only 0.4 percent to 135.17 points.

VNDirect Securities Co (VND) became the most active stock nationwide, seeing nearly 3 million shares exchanged.-VNA