Shares were added value by the end of August 16 session on the HCM Stock Exchange, but still fell on the Ha Noi bourse.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index sank to 429.82 points during the morning's session but bounced back to 430.83 points in the afternoon, extending the rising streak on the southern bourse to four days in a row.

Trading was sombre, however, as just 26.8 million shares, worth more than 488 billion VND (14.7 million USD), changed hands, down 32.4 percent in volume and 49.6 percent in value from August 15 levels.

Blue chips were mixed. While dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM), PetroVietnam Finance (PVF) and property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) sank from 0.7-1.7 per cent, Phu My Fertiliser (DPM), food processor Masan Group (MSN) and Vietinbank (CTG) gained 0.5-2.8 percent.

The VN30 Index declined 0.31 percent overall to 514.47 points.

DPM and Eximbank (EIB) were the only two stocks seeing trades in excess of 1 million shares, becoming the most active on the bourse.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 0.3 percent to a close of 69.94 points on slightly improved value of nearly 315.7 billion VND (15 million USD).

The HNX30 Index tracking the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity also slumped 0.4 percent to 133.39 points.

Habubank (HBB) continued to be the most active code on trades of nearly 6.5 million shares, closing flat at 5,200 VND (0.25 USD) a share.

August 16 was the last trading day for HBB. From August 17, HBB will be merged into Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) with a share swap ratio of one HBB exchanged for 0.75 SHB.

Foreign investors again finished as net buyers on the HCM City bourse, picking up shares worth about 12 billion VND (571,500 USD), but they remained net sellers on the Ha Noi exchange, responsible for a net sell of 10 billion VND (488,000 USD) worth of shares.-VNA