Investors stayed away from the market on May 13, pulling the VN-Index and its liquidity down.

On the Hochiminh Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost another 0.29 percent to close the session at 542.82 points. Blue chips were mixed.

The VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity, was down 0.30 percent to end at 569.28 points.

Market volume was little changed from the previous session, totalling 79.4 million shares, while value of trades dropped 16.5 percent from May 11 to reach 1.16 trillion VND (53.5 million USD).

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index managed to close in the green in the last trading minutes after sliding to a 2015 low on May 11. It recouped 0.27 percent to finish the day at 79.37 points.

Trading finished low as just 32 million shares worth just 357 billion VND (16.5 million USD) were moved by the end of the day.

Foreign sectors extended their net selling streak on the southern bourse by unloading shares worth 94.6 billion VND (4.4 million USD). However, they remained net buyers on the northern exchange with a small value of 4.14 billion VND (191,000 USD).

According to Maybank Kim Eng Securities Co, both exchange-traded funds (ETF) trade in Vietnam, including VNM and FTSE, are being sold at a discount of more than one percent. (Prices of their fund certificates are traded below their net asset values). This may prevent these funds from purchasing more shares in Vietnam.

"In the context that domestic cash flows are not strong, if foreign net sells prolong and at a stronger pace, the market is likely to get in trouble in the future," analysts at Maybank Kim Eng wrote in a note on its website.-VNA