The volume of trades, however, rose by 10 per cent over Friday's level to over 53.8 million shares, with a combined value of VND1.46 trillion (US$74.9 million).
Advancers outnumbered decliners during the session by 116-93, with five of the ten leading shares by capitalisation posting gains, including Eximbank (EIB), Sacombank (STB), Vincom (VIC), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Phu My Fertilisers (DPM).
Ocean Group (OGC), the most-active share on the southern bourse with 3.4 million traded, lost nearly 2.2 per cent of its value yesterday.
 |
| An investor makes a call on the trading floor at Bao Viet Securities Co in Ha Noi. Stock in Ha Noi and HCM City made an uncertain entry into the new week. — VNS Photo Viet Thanh |
On the Ha Noi Stock Echange yesterday, the HNX-Index closed up by 0.35 per cent to 133.31 points. Volume reached 52.5 million shares, worth VND1.28 trillion ($65.6 million), while advancers narrowly outnumbered decliners by 137-123.
PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) continued to be the most heavily-traded share nationwide, with a volume of over 7.6 million shares. However, Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) saw a notable increase in volume yesterday, with over 7.2 million shares traded.
Analysts said investors were consistently following a strategy of "buy low, sell high", with Le Van Thanh Long, head of the business department of SME Securities Co, commenting that investor preference for such a short-term strategy was understandable, particularly when the market still remained in an unpredictable period.
VNDirect Securities Co analysts suggested investors were tending to quickly realise profits for the very reason that their profit expectations had receded.
Foreign investors continued to demonstrate faith in the market, however. They picked up a net of nearly 4 million shares on both exchanges, worth a net of VND131 billion ($6.7 million). Ocean Group (OGC) was their most heavily-favoured share, with over 1.5 million bought. — VNS
