The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange Monday retreated as investors took profits from last week’s gains.


The VN-Index, the gauge of the 156 leading companies
and four closed-end funds listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange,
slipped 7.7 points, or 1.72 percent, to close at 439.41.


“Many large caps reported good first-half earning
results but their share prices still dipped into the red today as
investors sold shares heavily to take profits from last week’s
increases,” said a broker at a Ho Chi Minh City brokerage, who asked
not to be named.


Last week the benchmark index rose 4.1 percent.


However, the stock exchange has still lost 52.6 percent of its value this year, making it the world’s worst performing index.


Monday, 12.5 million shares were traded.


Of the index’s members, 101 lost ground.


The market remained gloomy but Le Ba Hoang Quang,
Hanoi-based head of research at the securities unit of Saigon Thuong
Tin Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, is expecting some positive signs from
the market in the future.


“In July, the stock market experienced all sorts of ups and downs,” Bloomberg quoted Quang as saying.


“The most obvious improvement in the market is that
liquidity and trading volume on both the two exchanges have improved
considerably.


“This is an initial sign of market stability and improvement in the future.”


Steel maker Hoa Phat Group was the most active stock by volume, with around 3 million shares changing hands.


Foreign investors were net buyers Monday, pumping VND80 billion (US$4.8 million) into the benchmark stock market.


Among their favorite stocks were shipping and
forwarding agency Gemadept Corp., Hoa Phat Group, PetroVietnam Tourism
and Services Joint Stock Company, PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemical
Joint Stock Company and technology giant FPT.


The Hanoi stock exchange’s HaSTCIndex fell 3.95 points, or 2.81 percent, to close at 136.5.