Continued sluggish trading depressed shares on the two national stock exchanges this morning despite news of a modest increase in CPI (consumer price index) this month.

The CPI in October rose just 0.85 per cent against the previous month, a modest increase amid rising concern about inflation, the General Statistics Office announced this morning.On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index went down 0.37 per cent to stand at 396.22 on a turnover of almost VND346 billion (US$16.5 million).

Most blue chips decreased slightly or closed unchanged with a low trading volume, indicated by the VN30's decrease of.037 per cent to close at 468.06 points.

Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG), Military Bank (MBB) and Sacombank (STB) all closed below 1 per cent.

Market conditions were negative overall with just 47 codes climbing, 134 codes declining and 62 codes closing flat.

Bac Giang Exploitable Mineral Co (BGM) rose to be the most active code this morning with nearly 1.5 million shares changing hands, but the shares plunged to their floor price this morning after 11 consecutive sessions of hitting the ceiling given the company's losses in the third quarter.

BGM was traded at just VND3,800 a share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined 1.19 per cent to close at 53.91 points with a poor trading value of just VND73 billion ($3.5 million).
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 118-45.

Developer Sacomreal (SCR) was the most active code this morning on trades of 1.44 million shares exchanged, going down 3.3 per cent to VND5,900 a share.

Trading will resume at 1pm.