An employee of Saigon Securities Inc places orders. Stock indices declined yesterday. — VNS Photo Truong ViThe fuel price cut announced late on Wednesday failed to rescue stocks from further declines on the HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday, with the benchmark VN-Index closing the afternoon session down 0.32 per cent from the previous day to 486.07 points.

Sell pressures continued to build, driving the value of trades up 28.3 per cent to VND2.3 trillion (US$110 million) on a total volume of nearly 134.7 million shares. Trades were mixed, with 137 codes advancing and 128 declining. The VN30-Index, tracking top shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, closed off by 0.47 per cent to 554.74 points.

Real estate companies were the day's biggest gainers, and Investment and Trading Co (ITC), Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate (HQC), Tu Liem Urban Development (NTL), Khang Dien House Trading and Investment (KDH), and Thu Duc Housing Development (TDH) all soared to their ceiling prices.

Construction firm Licogi 16 (LCG) was the most-active share, with 4.3 million traded, closing up by nearly 3 per cent to VND13,900 per share, after the company announced it would pay a 5-per-cent cash dividend. The deadline to register for participation in the payout was set at May 24.

Chau Thien Truc Quynh, director of Viet Capital Securities Co's securities brokerage department, noted that particularly sectors, e.g., banking or real estate, were taking turns to enter a rising wave, which then spread out to other, more speculative shares.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also lost 0.63 per cent yesterday to conclude the session at 83.23 points. Advancers outnumbered decliners by 177-136, while volume increased by 18 per cent to over 101 million shares, worth a total of VND1.1 trillion ($52.6 million).

Takeover target Habubank (HBB) continued to be the most-active share nationwide, with 12 million shares changing hands, but HBB shares sank by another 3.1 per cent to VND6,100.

Foreigners returned to being net sellers on both exchanges yesterday after a long run of net buys, unloading shares worth a combined net of VND11.3 billion ($540,000) on both bourses.

Source: VNS