Among VN-Index’s 170 members, 89 advanced, 58 declined, and 23 remained unchanged. Trading volume dropped to 53.3 million shares from last Friday’s 78.5 million.

By sector, telecommunications was the biggest winner, climbing 4.85 percent while consumer services and technology were losers.

Blue chips like Bao Viet Insurance & Finance Group (BVH) and software maker and mobile phone distributor FPT Corp. (FPT) rose almost the daily allowed limit of 5 percent.

“Recent cash flows pouring into blue chips have showed that the market is entering a new rising trend,” said analysts at Vietnam International Securities Co., or VISecurities.

“From May, foreign investors typically dumped stocks [to book profits] whenever the VN-Index rocketed, but the situation has turned as they are buying now,” they said.

Foreign investors were net buyers Monday, pumping a net value of nearly VND75 billion (US$4.2 million) into the market.

The VN-Index may continue its winning trend and hover between 505 and 550 points this week though some corrections may come thanks to profit-taking, according to VISecurities.

Vietnam Container Shipping Joint-Stock Co. (VSC), a port management and cargo-handling services provider, climbed 0.6 percent to close at VND90,000. The company, based in northern port city, Hai Phong, plans to use a new container ship worth $2.8 million from next month to raise its transportation capacity, according to a statement on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange website.

Vietnam Dairy Product Joint-Stock Co. (VNM), the biggest listed company on the exchange, slipped 1.3 percent, to finish at VND158,000. Vinamilk, as the company is known, will issue 175.6 million bonus shares to its existing shareholders in the third quarter, the Ho Chi Minh City-based firm said in a statement on the bourse’s website.

Rubber stocks move

Southern Rubber Industry Joint-Stock Co. rose to a record on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on Monday after world prices of the commodity increased.

Southern Rubber, Vietnam’s third-biggest listed producer, led rubber companies higher on the Vietnamese exchange. The Ho Chi Minh City-based company shares gained 4.9 percent to VND75,500.

Natural rubber futures surged by as much as 5.2 percent as investors speculated the global economic recovery would boost demand for the commodity used in car tires. Futures in Tokyo climbed to the highest since August 17 after dropping 6.8 percent last week, the worst loss in 14 weeks.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, Thong Nhat Rubber Joint-Stock Co. advanced 4.5 percent to VND16,400. Hoa Binh Rubber Joint-Stock Co. climbed 4.9 percent to VND42,600, and Tay Ninh Rubber Joint-Stock Co. added 4.4 percent to VND60,000.

Vietnam’s exports to China, which account for about 56 percent of its overseas shipments of the commodity, almost doubled since July after Chinese traders increased purchases at the main border gate in the north-east of Vietnam, Tran Thi Thuy Hoa, secretary general of the Vietnam Rubber Association, said in an interview Monday from Ho Chi Minh City.

Dong Phu Rubber Joint-Stock Co., the country’s second-largest listed producer, gained 4.4 percent, to VND59,000. Phuoc Hoa Rubber Joint-Stock Co., the country’s biggest rubber company, added 0.4 percent, to VND50,000.