Adding to the gloomy atmosphere pervading both bourses yesterday the electronic board went blank in the first session.


With no end in sight to the VN-Index's downward trend
following the US lawmakers' decision yesterday to reject a US$700
billion bailout plan of the private banking sector, markets fell across
the globe.


The VN-Index shed 22.30 points to close at 456.7. All listed stocks saw their values fall.


Even before the current global crisis the VN Index,
which was above 1,100 points in March 2007, had been in turmoil since
October.


Of the 164 listed shares and fund certificates, the southern bourse saw 163 losers and one unchanged.


IMP (Imexpharm) was the only one to close at its
reference price of VND90,000 per share with a total volume of more than
55,000 shares changing hands.


Among the largest fallers were STB (Sacombank), which
fell VND1,200 per share to close at VND23,800; PPC (Pha Lai Thermal
Power Plant), which slid VND1,700 to end the day at VND33,400 per
share; and SSI (Sai Gon Securities Inc), which slipped VND2,500 to
54,000 per share.


VNM (Viet Nam Dairy Products Company) was the most
active stock on the HCM City Stock Exchange with 459,930 shares
changing hands to close at VND90,500 per share.


DHG (Hau Giang Pharmaceuticals) and BMC (Binh Dinh Minerals) both plunged VND6,000 to VND132,000 and VND117,000 respectively.


Le Dinh Ngoc (Thang Long Securities) said Vietnam was
not immune to the global crisis and that Investors should be aware of
development outside and inside the country.


According to analysts at SME Securities, September was
a hard time for the global economy, which is facing high inflation and
unemployment and slow economic growth.


They predicted that the world economy would begin showing signs of recovery towards the end of next year.


They also said disbursement of foreign-direct
investment would become sluggish and that foreign financial
institutions would reduce their investment in new emerging markets such
as Vietnam.


Analysts at SME Securities warned investors to
exercise caution when buying stock and that to minimise risks they
should wait to see good business results for the third quarter.


Hoang Thach Lan from SME Securities in HCM City said
there was little interaction between global markets and Vietnam which
was therefore shielded from the worst effects of the crisis.