Heavy buys lit up the boards on Mar. 5, as the nation's stock exchanges enjoyed their first day of extended trading. Benchmark indices were substantially higher when the closing bell rang at 2:15pm.

The VN-Index closed at 457.21 points, nearly 1 point down from the level at the lunch break, but a substantial 4-per-cent increase over Mar. 2's close. The VN30 Index also rose by 4.25 percent to end the session at 524.94 points.

The value of trades on the HCM Stock Exchange jumped 61.3 percent to nearly 2 trillion VND (95.2 million USD) on a volume of 103.3 million shares. Of the 294 listed codes, only 14 retreated and five remained unchanged.


With 8.1 million shares changing hands, Eximbank (EIB) was the most-active share nationwide.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index soared by 5.7 percent to 75.78 points, with over 350 listed shares posting gains despite an easing in trading volume from the previous session to just 40 million shares. The value of trades reached only 479.3 billion VND (22.8 million USD ), a drop of 32 percent from the previous session.

PetroVietnam Technical Services Co (PVS) led the Hanoi bourse in terms of volume with over 2.8 million shares traded, followed by Asia Commercial Bank with a volume of around 2.2 million.-VNA