Heavy profit-taking brought the HCM City Stock Exchange’s week-long rally to a halt yesterday, and the VN-index ended the day off slightly at 540.81 points despite a healthy number of gainers and active trading.

The markets saw 48 advance and 108 decline, but 29 of the 48 gainers hit their ceiling prices on the day, as overall market volume reached 67.4 million shares, worth a combined VND2.84 trillion (US$158.6 million).

Sacombank (STB) was the most active share in yesterday’s trading, with nearly 4.7 million traded.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index also closed off 2.46 points to 169.74 points, with trades totalling nearly VND1.2 trillion ($64.7 million) on a volume of 33 million shares. Losers outnumbered gainers by 135 to 59.

Asia Commerical Bank (ACB) was the most active share on the northern bourse, with 196,600 shares traded, worth VND9.34 billion.

Duc Hung, an investor with SeABank Securities Co, attributed yesterday’s market decline to investor insecurity, fueled by events on Wall Street over the past couple of days.

Nguyen Huy Duong, an analyst with Hoa Binh Securities Co, called yesterday’s adjustment an attractive opportunity for long-term investors. There would be few more opportunities like the present to buy in, Duong suggested.