Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese shares extended gains on August7 for a third session as positive investor confidence lifted sectors such asenergy and banking-finance industries and several individual large-cap stocks.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.55 percentto close at 792.98 points, extending its gain for a third session from atwo-day increase of 0.3 percent.

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange added 0.46 percent toend at 102.40 points. It has risen total 1 percent in the previous twosessions.

More than 311.2 million shares were traded on both localexchanges, worth 4.8 trillion VND (213.4 million USD).

The trading figures on August 7 were up 2.7 percent in value and16.4 percent in volume compared to August 4.

Banking, insurance-finance, brokerage and energy sectors were thebiggest gainers among 20 industries on the stock market.

The four sectors posted growth rates of 0.29 percent, 0.86 percent,1.1 percent and 0.86 percent, respectively.

Among insurance-finance and brokerage companies, BIDV Insurance(BIC), BIDV Securities (BSI), MB Securities (MBS), FPT Securities (FTS) andAgribank Securities (AGR) were the firms that saw their share prices rise morethan 2 percent each.

Among the nine listed banks, Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), AsiaCommercial Bank (ACB), Military Bank (MBB) and Bank for Investment andDevelopment of Vietnam (BID) were the four gainers.

PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services(PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) advanced to push the energysector up though oil prices were moving sideways ahead of the OPEC meeting lateron August 7.

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Other large-cap, mid-cap and penny stocks also contributed to themarket gains, including brewer Sabeco (SAB), gas station operator Petrolimex(PLX) and property developer An Duong Thao Dien JSC (HAR).

Vietnam Investment Securities Company (IVS) said in its August 7report that the market’s gains were attributed to the increases of the threemajor stocks PLX, SAB and GAS.

However, large-cap stocks in the VN30 Index only contributed 1.7trillion VND worth of trading value, or one-third of the market’s total figure,meaning that these large-cap stocks were not the only reason that helped localstocks grow on August 7, IVS said.

Investors switched to making investments in mid-cap and pennystocks, which is a positive signal for the market as it proved that there was abalance among local stocks on the day, the brokerage firm added.

That balance would help the market avoid a deep decline from thelevel of 790 points if the indices lose their steam on August 8, the brokeragefirm said.-VNA