Shares on the HCM Stock Exchange rebounded slightly on Aug. 16, with the VN-Index rising 0.56 percent to close at 386.48 points.


Advancers outnumbered decliners by nearly two-to-one, but the value of trades remained alarmingly low, with trades totalling only about 299 billion VND (14.4 million USD) on a bleak volume of 17.9 million shares.


Sacombank (STB), with just over 970,000 shares traded, became the most-active share, closing up 2.3 percent to 13,100 VND (0.62 USD).

Most of the 10 leading shares by capitalisation posted gains, with only food producer Masan Group (MSN) and Eximbank (EIB) losing value.

" Vietnam 's stock market was unlikely to steeply decline now that global markets were gradually recovering from two weeks of strong declines," analysts with the financial website vietstock.vn wrote in a note. "The resistant landmarks of 370-385 points for the VN-Index and 65-67 points for the HNX-Index have proven strong, and many stocks at record low prices may spark the greed of a number of investors."

The market was regrouping after a long downturn, agreed FPT Securities Co analysts, who noted that there was little basis for a big change without new information to boost investor psychology.

Investors are awaiting more information related to interest rates and inflation in August in order to have a clearer view of the market, they said. Meanwhile, low market volumes were making many investors more cautious.

In Ha Noi, the HNX-Index closed nearly unchanged at 65.83 points. Market value reached 160.4 billion VND (7.7 million USD) on a volume of 16 million shares.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 136-84.

Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) reclaimed the position as the most-active share in Ha Noi with nearly 2.5 million changing hands.

Foreigners were net buyers on the HCM City bourse on Aug. 16, picking up nearly 12 billion VND (560,000 USD) worth of shares, but were net sellers of about 54 million VND (2,600 USD) in Hanoi. /.