Shares extended rally on both bourses on September 30, following PM Nguyen Tan Dung's speech on devaluating the VND at a maximum rate of two percent by the year-end and extending foreign ownership in domestic banks by 49 percent in the near future.

Ratings firm Fitch said that the Vietnamese economy was continuing to stabilise and had survived fluctuations in the global financial market that troubled other emerging markets such as India and Indonesia. The agency attributed this stability to efficient fiscal and monetary management.

On the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index closed at 492.63 points, advancing more than 1.2 percent. Gainers outnumbered losers by 153-54.

Trading value and volume stayed at high levels of 1 trillion VND (47.1 million USD) and nearly 68.5 million shares.

The VN30, tracking the city's top 30 shares by capitalisation and liquidity, swelled 1.1 percent to 551.56 points.

Only Kinh Do Confectionery (KDC) and food processor Bourbon Tay Ninh (SBT) tumbled, while 22 other blue chips notched substantial gains.

Notably, construction firm Becamex (IJC), financial conglomerate Ocean Group (OGC) and PetroVietnam Transport (PVT) hit their ceiling prices.

Private equity group Masan (MSN) also saw high growth of 4.3 percent.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the benchmark HNX-Index edged up 0.9 percent to reach 60.95 points as gainers overwhelmed losers by 118-52.

With more than 33.5 million shares changing hands, the value of trades totalled 256.2 billion VND (12 million USD).

The HNX30, representing Hanoi's largest stocks, gained 1.34 percent to close at 113.28 points.

Foreign investors concluded on September 30 as net buyers on both exchanges by a combined value of 31 billion VND (1.4 million USD).

"In the short term, expectations about business operations of enterprises in the third quarter will help retain the uptrend of the market," said Bao Viet Securities Co analyst Tran Hai Yen.

In addition, she said, domestic investment cash was once again dominating trading and the macroeconomic prospects as the year drew to a close would "improve investor appetite".-VNA