Vietnam's capital Hanoi stock market extended the upward trend during the first trading week after a long lunar New Year holiday.

The Hanoi bourse opened the first trading day on Tuesday after being off since Feb. 14 with a positive result while its benchmark, HNX-Index, gained 1.13 points, or 1.32 percent.

On Friday, HNX-Index gained 0.51 points or 0.6 percent from the final close before lunar New Year holiday on Feb. 13.

During the four-day trading week, the index witnessed two ups and two downs, posting the lowest level of 85.66 points on Wednesday and the highest level of 86.39 points on Tuesday.

During the previous trading week, the HNX-Index fluctuated between 83.33 points and 85.26 points.

On Friday, the Hanoi bourse closed at 85.77 points, down 0.28 points or 0.33 percent against the previous trading session.

A total of 38.771 million shares worth some 486.379 billion Vietnamese dong (22.78 million U.S. dollars) were traded at the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Friday, a decrease of 2.41 percent in volume and 3.49 percent in value against the previous trading session.

Prices of 95 stocks went up, 96 stocks fell down, while 65 stocks remained unchanged.

Compared to the last trading session in 2014, the HNX-Index on Friday posted an increase of 2.79 points, or 3.36 percent.

Foreign investors continued the trend from the previous trading week to be net buyers this week. From Tuesday to Thursday, foreign investors registered nearly 4.264 million shares in net buying.

Previously, during Feb. 9-13, foreign investors posted a net buying of 5.376 million shares on the Hanoi bourse.

While local investors remained net sellers for profit taking, the buying of foreign investors was an important factor supporting the market.

A sharp plunge is unlikely to be seen on the market in the next sessions thanks to foreign buying, analysts forecast, adding that the purchasing trend of foreign investors showed that they have a positive outlook on Vietnam's securities market in 2015.

According to analysts, the market psychology still lacks stability and they hope a new flow of capital will create a strong push for the market. Endi