Shares continued to slide yesterday on both national stock exchanges.
On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index failed to sustain a rally during most of the session, retreating 0.25 per cent to 391.56 points – almost reaching its lowest level of the day.

Trading was sluggish, with market value dropping 35.3 per cent compared to the previous trading day to just VND418.1 billion (US$19.9 million). Trading volume reached around 36 million shares.

Although only four of the 30 leading shares tracked by the VN30 advanced, they helped lift the index up 0.25 per cent to 461.34 points. The stocks were Eximbank (EIB), food processor Masan (MSN), Vingroup (VIC) and Vinamilk (VNM) – which rose 0.5-4.2 per cent.
Concluding yesterday's session, VNM closed at its ceiling price of VND123,000 ($5.8). With this price, although the volume of outstanding shares was around 132 million units lower than MSN, the dairy product company surpassed the food processor in terms of market capitalisation.
Late last week, Vinamilk announced a positive nine-month profit of VND5 trillion ($238 million), up 35 per cent over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, MSN shares have plummeted since September, from VND105,000 per share to just VND96,000 yesterday.

Among declining stocks, three plunged to their floor prices, including PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and property developers Dic Corp (DIG) and Tan Tao (ITA).
"Cash into the market suddenly shrank as buyers became cautious again," FPT Securities Co analysts wrote on their website.

The gap between supply and demand of shares was not large, but demand declined sharply, they added.

Meanwhile, selling pressure increased slightly, adding to the tumble in the market.
The benchmark HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange also shed 0.9 per cent, falling to 54.94 points.

Losers largely overwhelmed gainers by 123-62.
With 24.86 million shares traded yesterday, the total value fell slightly to VND178.8 billion ($8.5 million).

The HNX30, representing the performance of Ha Noi bourse's top shares, fetched 102.31 points, a 1.85 per cent decrease.