Hanoi (VNA) - Shares rose on both local exchanges on May 19, boosted by biggains for brokerage and energy companies.  

Thebenchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.94 percent to close at733.82 points, setting a fresh nine-year high.

TheHNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange advanced 0.78 percent to end at 92.18points. The northern market index bounced back from the 0.5 percent loss on May18

TheVN Index has posted a weekly gain of 1.2 percent compared to the previoustrading week, and the HNX Index has gained 2 percent.

Morethan 281.6 million shares were traded on both local bourses, worth 6.11trillion VND (271.58 million USD).

Thestock market was driven up by strong gains of brokerages and energy companies,which saw their sector indices up 5.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively,according to vietstock.vn.

Amongsecurities companies, HCM City Securities (HCM), Saigon Securities (SSI), Saigon-HanoiSecurities (SHS) and VNDirect Securities (VND) were the strongest gainers.

Ofthose four companies, HCM and SHS hit their daily trading limit of 6.9 percentand 9.6 percent, respectively.

HCMCity Securities on Friday officially erased the limit of foreign ownership inits capital, allowing foreign investors to purchase up to 100 percent of itsshares. Its shares have jumped 12.4 percent in the last three sessions.

Sharesof Saigon-Hanoi Securities have soared nearly 12 percent since May16, after thecompany announced it will pay an 8 percent dividend in cash for 2016performance and the list of beneficiary shareholders will be finalised on May26.

Athree-day rally of oil prices in the Asian trading session also helped bolsterinvestor confidence in local energy stocks.

Brentcrude gained 1.1 percent to trade at more than $53 a barrel, totaling athree-day increase of 2.8 percent. It has made a 9 percent increase since May9.

Amonglocal energy stocks, PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) gained 2.2 percent, PetroVietnamCoating (PVB) added 2 percent, and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS) edgedup 0.6 percent.

Othersectors that also posted good gains included banks, agriculture firms, rubberproducers and construction corporations.

Themain force behind the market gains on May 19 was the shift of investment flowfrom property developers, which have seen their share prices increase stronglyrecently, to large-cap companies, improving investor confidence and put the VNIndex at its fresh nine-year high, BIDV Securities (BSC) said in its report.

Themarket condition will remain positive, with the VN Index targeting theshort-term peak of 740 points and liquidity increasing strongly and firmly, BSCsaid.-VNA