Shares continued their upward trend on both national stock exchanges on February 25, even though it was the day when about 400 million shares traded five days ago were transferred to investors' accounts.

On the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index added 1.67 percent to end at 586.2 points, due to large gains among blue chips. Despite the transfer of shares traded on February 20, which ordinarily causes selling pressure, investors' confidence remained stable.

Among the southern bourse's largest shares by capitalisation and liquidity, Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) both reached their ceiling prices on February 20, with rises of 7 percent and 6.67 percent, respectively.

Large gains by the stocks of Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Masan Group (MSN), Sacombank (STB) and Bao Viet Group (BVH) also helped boost the VN30-Index to 661.53 points, a rise of 2.01 percent.

Only three codes posted losses on February 25: PetroVietnam Drilling (PVD), Tan Tao Group (ITA) and Vietinbank (CTG).

Meanwhile, the significant flow of cash into the market continued, with more than 143 million shares traded. The total trading value reached more than 2.6 trillion VND (123.8 million USD). Overall, gainers were almost double that of losers, with 151 gainers to 77 losers.

On the Hanoi Exchange, despite strong fluctuations, the HNX-Index closed with an increase of 0.72 percent to reach 82.25 points.

Also, the HNXFF-Index posted a gain of 0.52 percent to close at 81.08 points.

Liquidity was high, however, eased by the previous trading session. The total trading value reached 856 billion VND (40.7 million USD), and 95 million shares were traded.

The selling pressure was stronger on the Hanoi Exchange than on the HCM City Exchange.

Composed of the 30-top shares, the HNX30-Index added 0.69 percent to end at 164.29 points.

Foreign investors also boosted the index by buying shares, especially stocks of Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Masan Group (MSN) and Vietcombank (VCB). The shares of Vingroup (VIC) were another favourite.

The market is still expecting the regulation on increasing foreign stakes at listed companies to be approved soon. However, the State Securities Commission has denied that the information about the regulation being passed within this month is correct. The approval will be announced in line with established regulations, the commission said.-VNA