Shares continued to go up on the HCM City Stock Exchange but started to decline yesterday on the Ha Noi bourse.

The benchmark VN-Index in HCM City rose another 0.3 per cent to close at 430.77 points, but trading decreased slightly from the previous day with over 39.6 million shares, worth VND968.6 billion (US$46.1 million), changing hands.

Gains in large-cap shares again lifted the Index with the VN30 Index tracking the top 30 shares on the southern bourse rising 0.52 per cent to 516.05 points.

PVF and real estate Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) were the two most active stocks on HCM City's bourse yesterday with over 2.4 million shares traded on each code. But while PVF rose 3.3 per cent to VND12,500 ($0.60) a share, KBC fell 4.9 per cent to end at VND9,800 ($0.47) each.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 0.24 per cent to 70.15 points by the end of this morning, with declines once again outnumbering gains by 120-78.

Blue chips also slumped when the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity also sank 0.17 per cent to an average of 133.93 points.

Over 33 million shares, worth VND295 billion ($14 million), were exchanged yesterday.
The second-quarter business results of over 400 listed companies had improved over the previous quarter, while it was expected that additional monetary policies to support growth would soon be issued by the Government, said Pham Tien Dung, an analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co.

"Based on this, we can expect more positive moves in the medium- and long-term. However, in the short term, the sideways phase may continue, though a sell-off scenario will be unlikely to happen," Dung wrote in a report.