Despite reports at the weekend of high inflation rates of two major cities, investors in HCM City remained keen on trading on Mar. 21.


On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rose 1.56 per cent to finish at 468.25 points.
Trading volume fell 22 per cent from Friday's session to 41.7 million shares, totalling more than VND868 billion (US$40.4 million) in value.
During the weekend, it was reported the March inflation rate of HCM City showed a 2.2 per cent month-on-month increase while Ha Noi was 2.4 per cent.
Blue chips performed well, with Phu My Fertiliser (DPM) up 0.8 per cent, PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) up 1.9 per cent, insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) up 2 per cent, Masan Group (MSN) up 4.5 per cent and Ocean Group (OGC) up 4.8 per cent.
Other large caps closed unchanged, including the software producer FPT Corp (FPT) and Sacombank (STB) while banking stocks of Eximbank (EIB) and VietinBank (CTG) closed down slightly.
Stocks to match the ceiling prices included resort developer Vinpearlland (VPL) up 4.5 per cent to VND70,000, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) up 4.9 per cent to VND46,700, Vinacafe Bien Hoa (VCF) up 5 per cent to VND46,200 and Construction Company No.5 (SC5) up 5 per cent to VND31,500.
On Ha Noi, the HNX-Index closed down 0.39 per cent to 94.84 points despite gainers outnumbering losers by 187 to 100.
The volume was 16 per cent lower than Friday to 44.6 million shares, worth a value of VND717.4 billion ($33.6 million).