Market flat, trade tumbles, red flowed across the electronic board during the December 11 session on both of the nation's stock exchanges as investors turned less active.

On the Ho Chi Minh City bourse, the VN-Index lost 1.23 percent to just 505.31 points, while the VN30, composed of the 30 largest stocks in terms of capitalisation and liquidity, retreated 1.13 percent to 565.69 points.

Only steelmaker Hoa Sen (HSG), Vinamilk (VNM) and PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution (PGD) rallied. Two other stocks managed to finish the session unchanged, while the remainder of the 30 blue chips tumbled.

Pha Lai Thermalpower (PPC) saw the fastest decrease of 4.7 per cent, while insurer Bao Viet (BVH), private equity group Masan (MSN), PetroVietnam Drilling Services (PVD), Refrigeration Electric Engineering (REE) and food processor Bourbon Tay Ninh (SBT) declined between 2.3-3 percent.

Trading value was driven up by some 40 percent to 1.4 trillion VND (66 million USD), as over 103.5 million shares changed hands.

On the Hanoi bourse, all indexes lost ground, with the greatest decline belonging to the HNX30 (down 1.5 percent), which tracks the northern bourse's top 30 shares, and an index tracking shares of the manufacturing sector (down 1.3 percent). The HNX Index also lost 0.86 percent to 65.57 points.

The value and volume of trades on the bourse touched 404.8 billion VND (19 million USD) and 51.6 million units, respectively.

FPT Securities Co analysts stated that the declines again showed instability in the short-term trend and that although future transactions are expected to be active, the market will see several corrections.

Foreign investors concluded, as net buyers in both cities on December 11, choosing a margin of 49.8 billion VND (2.3 million USD).

Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC) was quoted by the Saigon Times Daily as saying that the market would continue moving sideways until nearly the end of the month. The VN-Index may move in the range of 500 and 530 points while the HNX-Index may oscillate from 63 to 68 points.

Investors should pick up stocks with possible good business results, especially those of construction and real estate firms which usually report gains at year-end or those in food and consumer goods sectors with active seasonal business activities. In addition, leading enterprises with good business results may attract huge foreign capital flows, VDSC said in the December investment strategy report.

“However, the economy and the market may not perform as well as expected. If the Government still needs more time to consider the draft of a regulation on foreign ownership limit, foreign capital inflows may not be as high as expected. Therefore, the VN-Index may not touch the 530-point level as we have forecast,” the brokerage added.-VNA