Shares on September 17 rebounded in Ho Chi Minh City , but lost ground in Hanoi.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index gained 0.45 percent to reach 477.73 points, although losers outnumbered gainers by 108-78.

The VN30 also added 0.7 percent to reach 535.80 points. The 30 largest stocks tracked by the index were mixed, with 13 codes increasing and eight others declining.

Notably, PetroVietnam Drilling Services (PVD) reached its ceiling price of 61,500 VND (2.9 USD), while PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) hit the floor price for the fourth successive session.

The overall value of trades on the bourse increased slightly compared to September 16's figure to about 719.2 billion VND (33.9 million USD) with around 39.1 million shares exchanged.

Meanwhile, on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index ended the session at 59.53 points, a 0.8 percent fall compared to the previous day. Losers overwhelmed gainers by 91-68.

Trading was sluggish again, with a total of 25.4 million shares worth 161.1 billion VND (7.5 million USD) changing hands, dropping 37.2 percent in value.

The HNX30, composed of the bourse's top 30 shares in terms of capitalisation and liquidity, also retreated 0.9 percent to 109.38 points.

Among listed banking stocks, only Vietcombank (VCB) managed to close in the green. The seven others tumbled or finished the session unchanged.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam's latest data, the total assets of commercial banks in July plunged 38.3 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD) compared to June.

In addition, non-performing loans as of July accounted for 4.58 percent of the outstanding loans, up by 0.12 percent compared to the end of June and halting the two-month decrease.
In general, the market trend was still a declining spiral as liquidity did not improve, said FPT Securities Co analysts in yesterday's report. Especially in Hanoi, Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) was no longer the boost to the market. It fell 1.4 percent.
Meanwhile, negative movements still affected stocks with high trading frequency, such as construction group Vinaconex (VCG) and PetroVietnam Construction (PVX).-VNA