The fall of blue chips on the HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday dragged the VN-Index down 10.14 points, a decrease of 2.03 per cent, after two days of gains.
Trading volume increased by 22 percent to 32.16 million shares, worth a total of VND1.39 trillion (US$74.6 million), up 21 percent from the previous session’s value. Losers outnumbered gainers by 158 to 14.
Banking shares continued to be the most actively traded on the southern bourse with 2.4 million Eximbank (EIB) shares and nearly 2 million Sacombank (STB) shares changing hands.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost 4.7 points to end the day at 155.39, down 2.94 percent.
The volume of the day’s trading dropped to 13.71 million shares, worth a total of VND474.07 billion ($25.6 million), down 21.3 percent from the last trading session.
Kim Long Securities (KLS) remained the most heavily traded on the northern bourse, with 1.7 million shares changing hands.
"Rising stock indices for two days on sluggish trading volume was a sign of unstable development," said Le Anh Thi, general director of Au Viet Securities Co.
"Market liquidity is low showing hesitant investor sentiment. Sellers do not want to sell low, while buyers do not want to buy high," Thi said.
Improved trading volume at yesterday’s session could be attributed to the bottom-catching psychology of investors. However, it was too early to forecast a rising trend in the market, Thi said.
Nguyen Xuan Binh, an analyst from Bao Viet Securities Co, said supporting a market rise could be the announcement by listed companies of their first 11-month business results and the entire year’s forecasts in one or two weeks time, which he said should be positive.
In addition, he said if drafts on permission for margin transactions, as well as shorter clearance periods (T+2 and T+3), could be approved, there would be more capital inflow into the stock market, which would have a positive impact on investors.
He also advised making mid- and long-term investments in sound shares but discouraged short-term speculation due to the current unpredictability of the market.
Yesterday’s trades continued to see mixed results among foreign investors. They finished the day as net buyers on the HCM City bourse with more than 1 million shares traded, worth a combined VND47.5 billion ($2.6 million). Meanwhile, on the Ha Noi market they were net sellers of 275,300 shares, worth VND17.38 billion ($939,459).