Comments by the head of the US Federal Reserve encouraged local investors to continue profit-taking on July 22, resulting in the VN-Index slipping 1.01 percent to close at 500.28 points.

On July 21, FED boss Ben Bernanke described the US economic outlook as unusually uncertain,” but gave no indication as to what the central bank would do to improve the situation.

Sell-offs dragged down 183 of the 251 listed stocks on the HCM Stock Exchange. The sole advancers were penny stocks, including HCM City Metal Corp (HCM), Foreign Trade Investment and Development Corp of HCM City (FDC) and Ha Tien Transport Co (HTV).

Meanwhile, VNE was the most heavily-traded stock, with 2.3 million changing hands.

Nguyen Trong Kien, a broker at a Danang branch of securities company, said Bernanke’s negative comments and figures by the General Department of Vietnam Customs that showed a high trade deficit had dampened investor sentiment.

“These reports weakened confidence in the market and encouraged investors to sell,” Kien said. “However, trading volume remained brisk, showing that some traders were buying.”

The value of the day’s trade was 1.5 trillion VND (78.9 million USD) on a volume of 49.9 million shares.

In Hanoi , the HNX-Index slid 0.81 percent to end at 157.68 points, with just 81 out of 315 listed shares advancing.

The value of the day’s trade, however, closed at 1.1 trillion VND (57.9 million USD) on a total volume of 37.9 million shares. PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) was the most active stock, with 2.55 million changing hands.

Foreign investors remained net buyers in HCM City , picking up 600,000 shares worth 54.1 billion VND (2.8 million USD). However, they were net sellers in Hanoi , off-loading 50,000 shares worth 1.5 billion VND./.