Shares increased slightly Monday morning on the two national stock exchanges but market volumes and values dropped compared to Friday's session.
On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rose 0.39 per cent to close at 459.52 points. The trading volume decreased 11 per cent from Friday to almost 25 million shares worth VND544.3 billion (US$25.9 million). Losers outnumbered gainers by 109-90.
Many blue chips posted gains. Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Vietinbank (CTG) rose over 3 per cent but others, such as PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG), made gains of less than 1 per cent.
On volumes of 1.33 million shares traded for each of Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and Sacombank (STB), they became the most active stocks on the southern bourse today. Both closed unchanged with SSI at VND23,600 ($1.13) and STB at VND14,000 ($0.67).
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.27 per cent to close at 93.07 points.
Both trading volume and value dropped by more than 25 per cent from Friday to just 28.2 million shares worth VND411.8 billion ($19.7 million).
Decliners narrowly outnumbered advancers by 113-152.
Kim Long Securities (KLS) was the most heavily traded share nationwide with 4.6 million shares exchanged, closing up 6.1 per cent at VND10,500 ($0.50).