Stocks on Vietnam’s main share market in Ho Chi Minh City dipped into the red Thursday after treading water in the previous session.


VN-Index, the gauge of 175 firms and closed-end funds on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, closed at 304.01, a slump of 1.29 percent.


Of the index members, 31 rose, 104 fell and 41 were unchanged. Turnover was a mere 5.7 million shares worth VND146 billion ($8.4 million), compared to Monday’s six million shares, Tuesday’s seven million and Wednesday’s 6.3 million.


“The capital gains tax remains the main cause for making investors selling heavily recently,” said one broker in HCMC.


Under the Personal Income Tax Law, which came into effect January 1, stock investors must pay either 0.1 percent of the value of each transaction or 20 percent of their profits for the year.


PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Joint-Stock Co. (PVD) was among today’s losers, dropping VND3,000, 4 percent, to close at VND72,000. Joint-Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, one of the firm’s founding shareholders, failed to sell its holdings amid ‘the market’s recent falls’, the exchange announced on its website, without saying how many shares the bank had registered to sell.


Joint-Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), owns 5.76 million shares in the oil drilling company, according to the exchange.


Sea & Air Freight International (SFI) also lost VND400, 1.04 percent, to close at VND38,000. The shipping firm said on the exchange’s website that deputy general director Nguyen Cao Cuong registered to buy 5,000 shares before February 15 to raise his stake to 0.35 percent from 0.17 percent.


Lam Dong Mineral and Building Material Joint-Stock Co. (LBM) slipped VND600, 3.85 percent, to VND15,000. Hau Van Tuan, member of the supervisory board, will purchase 20,000 shares before March 16 to boost his holdings to 21,0000 shares, according to the exchange.


My Chau Printing & Packaging Holding Co (MCP) fell VND500, 3.55 percent, to VND13,600. Deputy chairman Trinh Huu Minh registered to buy 15,000 shares to raise his holdings to 66,148 shares, according to a report on the exchange’s website.


The purchase will start tomorrow and finish February 28.


The HaSTC-Index of the smaller bourse in Hanoi declined marginally by 0.89 points, 0.86 percent, to end the trading session at 103.11.