Profit-taking pressure on Friday overcame the excitement in last week’s trading and restrained the overall advance of the VN-Index last week to just over 1 per cent, with the Index closing at 615.68.

Daily trading volume, however, remained high at 96.86 million shares, generating an average value of VND4.6 trillion (US$258.4 million).

A three-week rally made the opportunity to realise a profit irresistable to many investors, said Nguyen Quang Anh, a securities analyst in Da Nang, and the use of financial leverage by many investors gave them an opportunity to realise additional profits if the market continued to grow further.

"The higher the market indices reach, the more investors will move, and heavy pressure is unavoidable," he said, noting the record volume on Friday of 204 million shares traded on both stock exchanges.

Bao Viet Securities Co deputy director Nguyen Quang Bao also suggested that a rumour circulating on Friday that regulators were about to clamp down on leveraged investing might have caused the market to dive, but he also suggested the possibility that a group of investors generated the rumour for personal benefit.

Anh expected further rumours like this. "When investors are indulging in leveraged speculation, similar market fluctuations are inevitable," Anh said.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 3.60 per cent to end last week at 214.27 points. This northern market saw a daily volume averaging over 59 million shares, for a daily average value of VND2.7 trillion ($151.7 million).

Banking stocks continued to be the most favoured on both bourses, with Sacombank (STB) leading trading on the HCM City market, with 29.6 million shares changing hands, while Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) was the most-active share in Ha Noi, with 22.1 million traded.

The interest in banking shares was expected to continue, with Eximbank last week announcing it would list 876.2 million shares on the HCM City Stock Exchange tomorrow.

While some were excited by the new listing, others were anxious over the large supply of new shares on the market.

"876.2 million shares is not a small amount, especially in the context of the present, unpredictable market situation and with credit for securities likely to tighten," said Anh. He said the low VND28,000-per-share opening price seemed designed to attract investors.

Quach Manh Hao, an analyst with Thang Long Securities Co, predicted Wall Street would continue to exert an influence on the domestic market and suggested that investors who held onto stocks for a year or more would see good returns.

Dao Viet Anh of FPT Securities Co expected another high-pressure session of profit-taking as occurred on Friday to take place this week, but it would appear as a minor adjustment, not as a free-fall. He predicted the VN-Index would range between 590 and 630 this week.

Benny Lee, a Singapore securities analyst, said on Friday that the VN-Index representated a bullish market with a slightly bearish demeanor, but he predicted it would surpass the next resistance level of 640 within the short term.

The HNX-Index was also currently upward but with weaker momentum, Lee said, setting the resistance level for the HNX-Index at 230 points.

Foreign investors remained net buyers in HCM City last week, picking up a net of 3.2 million shares, but were net sellers in Ha Noi of 500,800 shares.