Share values continued slipping on the HCM City Stock Exchange on Thursday, with the VN-Index losing another 0.96 percent of its value to close at 481.76.
Market turnover also fell below the VND1 trillion level, totalling an anaemic VND919.3 billion (US$49.7 million) on a volume of 22.5 million shares. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the day by 153-30, with another 27 codes unchanged.
The situation on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was just as grim, with the HNX-Index also off by nearly a per-cent to 159.32. Trading volume shriveled to 14.2 million shares, worth a combined VND453.4 billion ($24.5 million).
Lower volumes would generally suggest little investor interest in the market but shouldn’t be seen as a serious problem on a gloomy day, said Quach Manh Hao of Thang Long Securities Company.
"The whole session was a game of bluffing between buyers and sellers, with buy orders coming in low and sellers only accepting at higher prices," said Dang Duy Anh, a client of Saigon Securities Inc.
A higher-than-expected inflation rate seemed to be affecting investor psychology, he said. "Meanwhile, the central bank has decided to keep the prime rate unchanged. Investors are bewildered."
Fiachra Mac Cana, Head of research at HCM City Securities Company, said in a report on Wednesday that month-on-month inflation over 1 percent for two consecutive months put pressure on State Bank to raise rates further, sometime in the first quarter.
As a result, February inflation figures were likely to be dispositive, he said, noting that an interest rate hike would be viewed as an important buying trigger, particularly if the market initially were to fall on the news.
In the meantime the market will probably have a series short-term runs followed by equally short-term corrections, he said. "But we are unlikely to either break out or break down for the time being".