Penny stocks continued to attract investor interest on the HCM Stock Exchangeon May 6, helping lift the VN-Index by 0.27 percent to a close of 549.51 points. However, overall trading value fell by about 12 percent to around 2.8 trillion VND (147.4 million USD) on a volume of 80 million shares.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the HCM City bourse by 129-65, with a full 79 codes rising to their ceiling prices.

Feeling optimistic despite the slump on global markets this week, investors rushed to buy for fear of missing an opportunity to take advantage of low share prices, wrote FPT Securities Co analysts in their daily report.

"This has been the longest wave of speculation in small caps to date," added Au Viet Securities Co deputy director Le Anh Thi, noting that investors remained hesitant to invest in blue chips while their confidence in the economic recovery remained weak.

The poor performance of blue chips held the market from greater gains on May 6, with major shares like Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), FPT (FPT), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Vietcombank (VCB), Saigon Securities Co (SSI), Phu MyFertilisers (DPM) and Vincom (VIC) all losing value.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also rose to 187.22, a gain of 2.19 percent. The value of the day's trades rose slightly to 2.1 trillion VND (110.5 million USD) but on a slightly decreased volume of 57.3 million shares.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 239-30, with 143 codes closing at their ceiling prices. Shares of companies under the auspices of Song Da and PetroVietnam continued to perform well, with PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) achieving the position as the most-active share on the northern bourse, with 3.8 million shares changing hands.

Foreign investors were net buyers on the HCM City market by a tiny margin of just 2.6 billion VND (138,421 USD) but were net sellers on the Hanoi market of shares worth a net of 27 billion VND (1.4 million USD)././.