Profit taking sees City shares fall

Profit taking sees City shares fall

Increased profit taking activity in the afternoon drove shares down on the HCM City Stock Exchange, despite the positive performance in the morning.

The benchmark VN-Index slid 0.26 per cent to close yesterday at 517.03 points, led by slumping blue chips.

Over half of the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity edged down, pushing the VN30 down 0.18 per cent to 580.89 points.

Both market volume and value were half last Friday's levels, totalling nearly 76 million shares worth VND1.174 trillion ($55.9 million).

"The trading atmosphere was very boisterous as the sell-side kept selling for profits after a long rally while the buy-side patiently sought new opportunities on growing rally optimism," analysts of FPT Securities commented on their website yesterday.

The market would likely go up on positive news, they said, citing the delay of a circular classifying bank loans, a stimulus package for the real estate sector and the official decision to form a national debt management corporation.

Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA) continued to be the most active code on the southern bourse, closing unchanged at VND7,700 a share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index continued to see an uptrend in the afternoon, concluding yesterday at 64.89 points, up 0.42 per cent over Friday.

Trading was sluggish, however, as both market volume and value were down from the previous session, reaching 50.6 million shares worth VND425.45 billion ($20.3 million), down 30 per cent in volume and 25 per cent in value.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) again led the market here on trades of nearly eight million shares, rising 1.35 per cent to VND7,500 a share.

Foreign investors concluded as net sellers of VND20 billion ($952,000) worth of shares on the HCM City market but increased their buys on the Ha Noi exchange, picking up VND13.3 billion ($633,000) worth of shares.

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