National stocks continued to tumble yesterday. The coming trend for the two composite indices has been declining, said Kim Eng Securities Co analysts.

"Meagre trading has discouraged speculators and even sellers, as many codes have been declining by 5-10 per cent during the recent two weeks," stated Wall Street Securities Co analysts.

The current downturn in the economy was a great challenge, they added.
Only a few months earlier, the market witnessed around 150-200 million share
s change hands with a total value up to VND2-3 trillion (US$95.2-142.8 million) per session, but trading is currently sluggish. "The sudden change made investors uncertain about market prospects," they said.

Statistics show that during 5 years between 2007 and 2011, the Vietnamese stock market in July tumbled three times in 2007, 2010 and last year. The common feature of those declines was low liquidity.
"Therefore, investors were wise to hold cash and stay outside," Wall Street Securities Co analysts said.

Shares fluctuated on the HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday, and the benchmark VN-Index finally closed down nearly 0.7 per cent to 405.39 points.

Market value, however, increased 6.6 per cent over Monday's level, reaching VND474 billion ($22.5 million). Around 28.7 million shares were exchanged, reaching 89.7 per cent of the previous session's volume.

Blue chips continued to lose value. Only food processor Hung Vuong (HVG), Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) and property developer Quoc Cuong Gia Lai (QCG) of the 30 leading shares tracked by the VN30 advanced.

The VN30 retreated 0.6 per cent to stand at 479.58 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed at 67.89 points, off 0.45 per cent on a total turnover of just VND220.9 billion ($6.2 million), declining 16 per cent.

The HNX30 slid 0.7 per cent to close yesterday at 126.46 points.

With some 2.6 million shares changing hands, PetroVietnam Construction Co (PVX) was the most active code. The share remained unchanged at a close of VND8,900.