Sluggish trading continued on the HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday, as the VN-Index closed down slightly by 0.39 per cent to 312.18, on a volume of just 5.95 million shares, worth VND143.90 billion (US$8.2 million).


Insiders attributed the market doldrums to investor nervousness over the new remote trading system implemented yesterday.


The newly rolled-out remote trading system allows investor orders to go directly to the central computer system on the HCM City Stock Exchange, without having to go through securities company representatives at the exchange.


"Investors are of course cautious about the new trading method as today is the first day," said Nguyen Thuy Hoa, a broker at Bien Viet Securities.


Most-active share Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) generated orders for only 442,200 shares on the day, while runner-up Sacombank (STB) saw only 399,700 change hands.


The day's few gainers were concentrated in smaller stocks, including Vegetable Oil Packing (VPK), Binh Trieu Construction and Engineering (BTC) and Ha Tien 1 Cement (HT1).


Foreign investors bucked the common trend on the market, buying over a million shares while selling 823,240.


Participants in a conference late last week on stock market prospects for 2009 also tried to put a brighter face on market developments over the past year.


"The market needs time to recover from the impact of the global crisis," said Nguyen Minh Tuan, head of the analysis department of the SaigonBank Barjaya Securities Co, who predicted the market would warm up in the fourth quarter of the year.


Tuan suggested that the safest investments now would be based on what's happening in the domestic economy. "In the context of market turmoil, investors should take into consideration bonds, term deposits, and shares in consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies. They are safe choices."


In Ha Noi yesterday, the HASTC-Index also closed off slightly, down 0.43 per cent to 105.71. Trading volume was also sluggish, at fewer than 5.1 million shares, worth a combined VND143.07 billion ($8.2 million).


Kinh Bac Urban Development (KBC) was the most active share on the northern market, with 1.07 million shares traded, followed by construction giant Vinaconex with 609,900 shares and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) with 453,300 shares.