Shares continued to slide due to a slower pace on both national stock exchanges this morning with nearly half of total codes losing value.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index stood at 485.94 by the end of this morning's session, down just 0.03 per cent over yesterday.

Investors became cautious in trading, driving market value down 36.6 per cent over yesterday morning to over VND1.08 trillion (US$51.4 million) on a total volume of over 75.5 million shares.

Advancers outnumbered decliners by 154-84.

Blue chips were mixed. Of the 30 leading shares by market value and liquidity, 10 rallied, 12 sank and eight were unmoved. The VN30 Index rose 0.18 per cent to close at 555.74 points.

Mining firms were gainers this morning with shares of many mineral companies soaring to the daily limit rise of 5 per cent. They included Bac Giang Exploitable Mineral (BGM), Ha Nam Mineral (KSH), Nari Hamico Minerals (KSS) and Tay Bac Minerals Investment (KTB).

Yesterday, the HCM City Stock exchange approved Vietcombank (VCB) listing 1.78 million additional shares owned by the State from next Monday. However, these shares will not be traded on the market, thereby not affecting the demand and supply of VCB shares. VCB rose 3.4 per cent this morning to VND36,500 ($1.74).

Without supporting news, Viet Nam Ocean Shipping (VOS) surprisingly became the most active code with over 3.8 million shares exchanged, hitting the ceiling price of VND4,800.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.66 per cent to close this morning at 82.68 points on a turnover of over VND522.4 billion ($25 million).

Losers overwhelmed gainers by 171-88.

VNDirect Securities (VND), with 2.2 million shares traded this morning, became the most active share on the northern bourse in place of Habubank (HBB), but closed down 0.7 per cent ,at VND13,300 ($0.63).

The afternoon session will resume at 1pm.

Source:  VNS