Shares in both the Hanoi and HCM City bourses on April 26 retreated after a good performance on the previous session. In HCM City , blue chips tumbled, while securities shares were heavily traded in Hanoi .

Although information on the soaring CPI did not seem to affect the Vietnamese stock market the previous day, the high cumulative CPI as well as materials prices and cost-push inflation pulled indices down on April 26.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index dropped 3.76 points, or 0.8 percent, to 461.86. Trading volume stood at 27.4 million, worth 666.4 billion VND (31.7 million USD), compared to the 26.3 million worth 561.1 billion VND (26.7 million USD) on April 25.

Decliners outnumbered advancers by 178-57. Among the ten largest capitalised codes, only food producer Masan Group (MSN) gained, closing up nearly 5 percent at 108,000 VND, while shares declined for the other nine.

Saigon Securities (SSI) saw the highest volume of about 1.6 million shares exchanged, although it closed down nearly 2 percent at 19,800 VND.

In Hanoi , shares followed a downward trend. The HNX-Index retreated 1.79 percent to close at 83.74 points. Around 29.6 million shares worth 397 billion VND (18.9 million USD) changed hands.

Losers were three times higher than gainers.

Securities shares that had made gains on April 25 were heavily traded. They included VNDirect Securities with 2.2 million shares changing hands, Bao Viet Securities (BVS) with 2 million shares, and Kim Long Securities (KLS) with 2.1 million shares traded.

Foreign investors in HCM City , after being net sellers on April 25, returned to net buyers.

Thus, foreign net buyers picked 3.9 million shares worth 141 billion VND (6.7 million USD), in which 3.4 million shares, equivalent to 133 billion VND, were bought in HCM City .

"After the strong rally on April 25, demand weakened and supply increased in today's session, causing many investors to stay cautious with a bulltrap drama. Shares were heavily sold, and it became an unavoidable trend for large-cap stocks," said Nguyen Phuc Thinh, head of the Analysis and Consultation Department of Hoa Binh Securities Joint Stock Company.

The rally of blue chips depended on the purchasing capabilities of foreign investors. Masan Group (MSN) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) would likely continue to support the VN-Index in April 27's session, Thinh added. /.