Shares extended rallies on Vietnam's two stock exchanges on September 21 as investors were confident the country's growing economy will boost company earnings. On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rose for the second day, adding another 1 percent to close the session at 572.12 points. It edged up 0.7 percent on September 18. Meanwhile on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also increased 0.4 percent to end at 78.07 points, extending its winning streak to four days in a row. The Index has advanced almost 2 percent in the past four sessions. Investors were preoccupied last week about whether the US central bank, known as the Federal Reserve, would raise interest rates. The Fed decided to keep its benchmark rate near zero. "After the Fed story, investors have turned their attention to domestic economic information, especially the earnings results of listed companies in the third quarter," said Hoang Thanh Tung, an analyst at International Royal Securities Co. Experts expect Vietnam's economy to grow between 6 percent and 6.5 percent this year. "These factors create quite a bright outlook for the domestic economy during the rest of the year, whether the Fed raises rates or not," Truong Van Phuoc, Vice Chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, told reporters on September 18. Blue chips continued to play a driving force in pushing the market forward on September 21 as 20 of the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity in the HCM City's market climbed. Banks were the biggest gainers. Six of total nine listed lenders posted gains while only one slumped. Military Bank (MBB) rose by 2.7 percent as investors reacted positively to the information that the bank sold all 390.6 million shares in its private placement to five domestic investors on September 18. The State Capital Investment Corporation bought 160 million shares and now owns 10 percent of its charter capital. The overall market condition was rather positive with 34 percent of 675 stocks advanced, 23.5 percent declined and other 42.5 percent closed unchanged. Liquidity decreased on the two exchanges, however. Only 109.4 million shares worth 1.71 trillion VND (76 million USD) were changed hands in HCM City on September 21, down 29 percent in volume and 43 percent in value against the levels on September 18. These figures were also lower than the daily trading average of 121.5 million shares and 2.2 trillion VND (97.8 million USD) recorded in August. The number was much more modest in Hanoi's market with 32.4 million shares worth 368.4 billion VND (16.4 million USD) traded. Quang Nam Rubber Investment Co (VHG) continued to be the most active stock nationwide with nearly 8 million shares traded. It climbed another 2.5 percent to close at VND8,300 a share on September 21. It rose over 9 percent in the past four days after the company said it will buy back 5 million shares of the company after getting approval from the State Securities Commission.-VNA