A rally in penny stocks lifted the VN-Index for a third straight day on Oct.25, with the index closing up 0.76 percent to 448.61 points, even in the face of bad news about the nation's inflation rate.

Significant capital began to flow toward penny stocks at mid-session on the HCM City Stock Exchange, causing nearly 30 stocks to hit their ceiling prices, including Ca Mau Trading (CMV), OPC Pharmaceutical (OPC), and Nari Hamico Mineral (KSS).

A few blue chips managed gains as well, including Eximbank (EIB) and real estate developers Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN) and Vincom (VIC).

Sacombank (STB), the most-active share with 1.1 million traded, closed down by 0.65 percent. About 28.2 million shares were traded during the session overall, for a net value on the day of 731 billion (37.5 million USD).

Tong Minh Tuan, head of analysis at BIDV Securities Co, said that recent patterns on the stock exchanges reflected a reaction to inflationary trends, even before official data had been released.

Foreign investors took advantage of the modest market rally to become net sellers of over 500,000 shares, worth a net of 2.3 billion VND (117,948 USD).

However, on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, they picked up a net of 125,300 shares, worth a combined 2.7 billion VND.

On the Hanoi market, the HNX-Index gained 0.4 percent to close at 111.77 points. Volume remained sluggish at just 20.7 million shares, for a value of only 400.3 billion VND (20.5 million USD).

The northern market saw 15 penny stocks climb to their ceiling prices, including Phu Thinh-Nha Be Garment (NPS), which spiked 6.96 percent on the day, Hung Yen Educational Book and Equipment (HST), up 6.94 percent, and SME Securities Co (SME), up 6.87 percent./.