The VN-Index yesterday slid 0.75 per cent to close at 524.51, a fall of 3.98 points, as the positive performance of a few blue chips put the brakes on a downward move on the HCM City Stock Exchange.

Sales continued to weigh on the market after Indochina Capital’s announcement last week that it would liquidate its Viet Nam holdings, along with a negative assessment from Credit Suisse which sent the domestic bourse into a tailspin. The day witnessed 106 losers and 51 gainers.

A few major stocks, including Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp (REE) and Song Da Urban-Industrial Zone Investment and Development (SJS), bucked the trend to hit the ceiling of the trading band by the end of the day, helping prop up the Index.

Trading volume remained significant with 58.4 million shares changing hands on a turnover of VND2.6 trillion (US$146.1 million). Sacombank (STB) continued to show the heaviest activity on the southern market with 7.4 million shares changing hands.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange yesterday, the HNX-Index fell by 1.31 per cent to end at 164.73, with all major shares losing value on the day. Decliners outnumbered advancers by 162 to 39.

The value for the day’s trade reached about VND968 billion ($54.4 million) on a volume of nearly 28 million shares. Kim Long Securities (KLS) led the northern bourse with 3.2 million shares, followed closely by Vinaconex Group (VCG) with 2.4 million.

Foreign investors yesterday became net sellers on both markets, responsible for a net sale volume of 1.3 million shares – worth VND58.1 billion ($3.3 million) – in HCM City, and 594,000 shares – worth VND24.5 billion ($1.4 million) – in Ha Noi. Total foreigner transaction volume were modest at about 6.3 million shares.

Le Trung Dung, an analyst with Tri Viet Investment Fund, said that early-week developments in supply and demand were now of investor interest, noting that the VN-Index might fall below 500 points if massive sales continued. Solid demand would help the market hold firm with daily trading volumes on the HCM City exchange maintaining around 60 million shares, he said, adding that last weekend saw some good news including a US Down Jones index strong gain and positive results released by such domestic firms as Sacombank and Hau Giang Pharmaceuticals.

Dinh Anh Kim, director of APEC Securities’ Chuong Duong branch, said that in the long term the global stock market in general and the domestic bourse in particular no longer saw many negative pressure which could cause stocks to slump to the low levels of early this year.