The VN-Index has spent three straight weeks shedding points.

In the past week alone, the index fell from 460.04 to 428.05, a one-week loss of 6.95 per cent.

"The stock market for the past three weeks has fallen short of my expectations and those of many investors," said Ngo Minh Duc, an analyst from Eurocapital Securities. "We hoped for a modest recovery, but the results in hand reflect desperation. I think that we’re in for at least one more gloomy week."

While trading volumes averaged less than 3 million shares per day over the past week, the cumulative value of the week’s trades on the HCM City Stock Exchange reached VND645 billion (US$40.3 million), 13 per cent higher than in the previous week.

Massive numbers of shares continued to be offered for sale without finding buyers.

Foreign investors helped pick up the slack, buying five times more than they were selling and picking up a total 7.8 million shares. This accounted for nearly 85 per cent of the entire market value for the week.

Foreign investor interest helped make Phu My Fertilisers (DPM), with a volume of 1.4 million shares traded, and Sai Gon Securities (SSI), with 800,000 shares, the most active codes on the bourse during the week.

A meeting during the week between officials of the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission to formulate measures the Government might take to support the market did nothing to boost trading.

The State Bank of Viet Nam’s move a week ago to shore up capital-hungry commercial banks by raising the prime rate to 12 per cent also appeared to have no positive impact on stock market investors.

The vice chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Finance and Budget, Dinh Van Nha, sounded an optimistic note, however, predicting that many investors will return in early June when a number of new listings are expected.

In Ha Noi over the past week, the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre also witnessed five consecutive sessions of downturns, with the HASTC Index closing at the end of Friday’s trading session at 127.93.

For the week as a whole, the Ha Noi index lost 11.81 points, or 8.45 per cent of its value.

Total volume for the week on the northern bourse was 12 million shares, with a value of VND108 billion ($6.75 million), only about half of the previous week’s figure. Shares prices hit the daily floor in 49 out of 137 codes listed on the Ha Noi market.