The decrease of the stock market eased this morning with indices falling below 1 per cent.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index slid 0.87 per cent to reach 475.86 points.

Trading value almost doubled yesterday morning's level, hitting over VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million) on a volume of 43.1 million shares.

Market sentiment remained negative as only 24.7 per cent of the listed stocks posted gains.

The performance of blue chips improved in general in comparison to yesterday. Among the 30 top shares tracked by the VN30, six shares finished in the green, including HCM City Infrastructure Investment (CII), rubber firms Casumina (CSM) and Da Nang Rubber (DRC), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vinamilk (VNM).

The index retreated 1 per cent to 535.04 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.2 per cent, standing at 58.75 points. Decliners outnumbered advancers by 80-64.

Trading was sluggish with only VND189.1 billion ($9 million) worth of 24.9 million shares changing hands.

The HNX30, tracking the northern city's best stocks, also dropped 0.2 per cent to 110.25 points.

Trading will resume at 1 pm.