The market rallied on April 25 with the benchmark indices on a stable upward trend, but trading remained sluggish as a five-day-long public holiday is approaching.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index jumped 8.46 points, or as much as 1.48 percent, to reach 578.92 points.

The trading remained slow-paced, although investors were willing to inject capital into the market, as over 64 million shares changed hands, worth 1.28 trillion VND (60.9 million USD), roughly same as the two previous trading sessions.

More than two-thirds of the blue chips extended gains on the day, with the VN30-Index, tracking the southern city's 30 largest stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, added 7.19 points, or 1.14 percent to end the week at 636.35 points.

The shareholders' meetings of many big companies were held on the same day, such as Vinamilk, Masan Group, and PetroVietnam Drilling (PVD), announcing positive revenues and profits, which helped boost their stock prices.

Only four codes that posted losses were Vietinbank (CTG), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG), PetroVietnam Transportation Corporation (PVT), and Pha Lai Thermo-electric Company (PPC).

According to FPT Securities, the market was showing signs of approaching rock bottom, but some investors remained doubtful and cautious of a likely bull trap, while other investors remained hesitant to enter the market due to the approaching five-day-long public holiday. As a result, the capital inflow into the market remained at a low level.

Over all, on the southern bourse, 136 codes added values, while 78 codes declined.

On the Hanoi Exchange, the HNX-Index closed 0.73 percent higher at 80.58 points, while the HNXFF-Index added 0.79 percent to end at 81.5 points.

The upward trend of the benchmark indices was slow but stable, although the trading volume and value slightly improved over the previous trading sessions.

More than 41.6 million shares were traded with a total value of 425.7 billion VND (20.2 million USD). There were 130 gainers and 71 losers on the northern bourse.

Tracking the performance of the capital city's top stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, the HNX30-Index ended 0.68 percent higher at 162.08 points.

The foreign investors reduced the net buying volume, at 1.47 million shares, 21.89 percent lower than the previous session, but the net value rose by 10.25 percent to 38.61 billion VND (1.38 million USD).

FPT Securities stated that investors should remain cautious and keep a close watch on the foreign investors' buying activities as the company has forecast that the VN-Index will continue to fluctuate when it approaches the 580-585 point band.-VNA