Shares closed higher yesterday on the HCM City bourse but fell again on the Ha Noi exchange on sluggish trading.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index gained another 0.39 per cent to finish yesterday at 415.44 points on a turnover of VND629.4 billion (US$30 million), up 36 per cent from a day earlier.

Advancers overwhelmed decliners by 193-55, 62 of which hit the daily limit increase of 5 per cent. Most of them were "speculative" mid-cap and penny shares, such as Bac Giang Exploitable Mineral (BGM), Binh Thuan Mineral Industry (KSA), the Southern Rubber Industry (CSM), Viet Nam Mechanisation Electrification & Construction (MCG) and Viet Nam Electricity Construction (VNE).

Blue chips were mixed but the VN30 Index tracking performance of the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity still rose 0.37 per cent to stand at 490.64 points.

Without supporting news, furniture maker Duc Long Gia Lai Group (DLG) surprised the market by becoming the most active stock yesterday with nearly 3.7 million shares changing hands. The shares climbed 2.9 per cent to close at VND7,200 ($0.34) a share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed off 0.2 per cent at 69.67 points, on a modest value of VND293.2 billion ($14 million).

After the Ha Noi bourse on Thursday announced the 30 largest stocks to be tracked by the HNX30, many saw positive gains in early trading which declined by the afternoon's session.
Bao Viet Securities (BVS), Habubank (HBB), PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) and construction giant Vinaconex (VCG) all saw losses of 0.9-2.4 per cent.

VNDirect Securities (VND) was still the most active code in Ha Noi with a total trade of 3.6 million shares, sinking 1 per cent to VND9,900 ($0.47).

A volatile market situation was making investors less patient, stock analysts said.

Markets rose for one or two session, accompanied by some good news, but then fell back down. This phenomenon happened at least two times in the past two months, making investors precautions.

"Investors now seem not to believe in positive news as they fear that such news could not be sustained in market uptrends for a long time," independent analyst Nguyen Viet Hung said.
Foreign investors were still net buyers on the HCM City exchange, but on a modest net value of VND380 million ($18,100) worth of shares. Meanwhile, they were net sellers of VND3.2 billion ($152,000) worth of shares on the Ha Noi bourse.