Shares continued to slide on the HCM Stock Exchange on Nov. 8, but a rebound in the final minutes of trading stave off losses on the Hanoi bourse.

On the HCM exchange, the VN-Index closed off 0.47 percent to 408.60 points, with decliners outnumbering advancers by 121-90. The value of trades fell to nearly 558 billion VND (26.6 million USD), while volume slumped 15 percent from the previous day to just 29.8 million shares.

Blue chips continued to lose value, while only Phu My Fertilisers (DPM) and PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) posting gains among the 10 leading shares by market capitalisation.

Shares in the real estate sector saw the greatest declines, losing an average of 5-7 percent over the last few days of trading on both bourses, according to a Kim Eng Securities Co report.

"The sector will face more challenges as debts mature but they are unable to secure new financing from banks due to limitation on credit for non-manufacturing sectors," commented ACB Securities Co analyst Nguyen Duy Phong.

Military Bank (MBB) was the most-active code in HCM City , with over 1.1 million shares changing hands, but it finished the day down 2.4 percent to 12,000 VND per share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index recovered slightly from the previous day's record low to reach 65.13, an increase of 0.17 per cent.

"Since the Index is still ranging between 65-66 points, we can only define its trend after a few more sessions," said ACB Securities Co technical analyst Hoang Huy. If the Index passed 66 points, it could then turn into a resistance level of 71-72 points, Huy added.

The volume of trades in the capital city fell by 11 percent from Nov. 7, totalling 24.6 million shares worth just 262.6 billion VND (12.5 million USD).

Despite mounting concerns over the liquidity of small securities firms, brokerage houses were still the most favoured codes in Hanoi , with Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) and VNDirect Securities Co (VND) again being the most-active shares, with KLS seeing a volume of 2.78 million shares and 1.8 million VND shares.

Foreign investors were net sellers on both bourses on Nov. 8, unloading a combined net of 39.76 billion VND (1.8 million USD) worth of shares./.