The VN-Index rose by 0.6 percent on Monday to a close of 510.02 points, as trading resumed on the HCM City Stock Exchange following a week-long break for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.
Trading value continued meagre, however, reaching just VND905.8 billion (US$47.7 million) on a volume of under 20.5 million shares.
Sacombank (STB) led the day's trading with over 1.8 million shares changing hands.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index advanced by a comparable 0.57 percent to end the session at 165.60 points.
But the value of the day's trades on the northern bourse also remained modest, at less than VND298 billion ($15.7 million).
Only 9 million shares were traded, with Kim Long Securities (KLS) accounting for nearly 2 million of that total.
Many market observers had expected a bounce in the domestic stock market this week, following a Tet holiday during which both local exchanges were dark but major world markets saw healthy gains.
The US Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all saw gains of over 3 percent last week, while France's CAC 40 Index rose by 4.73 percent and the UK's FTSE 100, by 4.19 percent.
Foreign investor buys in the final sessions before Tet had also been expected to boost local investor confidence, said Le Dat Chi, dean of the finance department at the HCM City University of Economics, noting that this sector had acquired a net of over VND1.5 trillion ($79 million) shares since the beginning of this year.
They continued buying yesterday. On the HCM City market, they bought a net of VND40 billion ($2 million), with dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) their most sought-after share.
Foreign investors grabbed 382,000 VNM shares, worth VND34 billion ($1.8 billion).
On the Ha Noi exchange, they picked up a net of just VND12.6 billion ($700,000) worth of shares.
Yesterday's low overall volumes, however, were a warning sign, according to some analysts.
"Though being supported by positive signs, the market this year is unlikely to soar like it did in 2009," Chi warned.
"The state of the economy in 2010 is not yet completely favourable and the recovery is not yet viewed as sustainable, while Government fiscal and monetary policies are giving priority to stability rather than rapid growth, which can cause the stock market to be unsettled."