HANOI, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will widen the daily stock trading band at its Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange to plus or minus five percent on Aug. 18 from current plus or minus three percent.

    Vietnam's State Securities Commission has also decided to widen the daily stock trading band at the Hanoi Securities Trading Center to plus or minus seven percent on Aug. 18 from current plusor minus four percent, Nguyen Son, director of the commission's Market Development Department, told reporters on Thursday.

    The latest adjustment of stock trading bands has been the fourth so far this year, he said, adding that it has been made when the liquidity of the local bourse has improved, Vietnam's macroeconomic factors have shown positive signs, the global stock market has recovered, and prices of crude oil and gold in the international and domestic markets have dropped recently.

    Vietnam's stock market index, VN-Index, closed at 476.5 on Thursday, up 12.49 points, or 2.69 percent, against Wednesday.

    A total of 20,704,400 stocks worth 741.718 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (44.41 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. Prices of 155 stock, excluding bonds, increased, one remained unchanged, and four dropped.

    The HASTC-Index, index of the Hanoi Securities Trading Center, where unlisted stocks of firms, mainly small-and medium-sized ones are traded, rose 3.93 points, or 2.76 percent, to 146.57 points.

    Vietnam currently has 156 kinds of listed shares, 391 kinds of listed bonds, mostly government bonds, and four listed investment funds, according to the latest statistics from the country's State Securities Commission.