Many blue chips declined on the afternoon of August 16, the week’s last trading day, despite a positive start earlier, dragging down the VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

Though the gainers outnumbered the losers by 113-89, the VN-Index still lost 0.08 percent to close the day at 507.79 points.

Major stocks, such as private equity Masan Group (MSN), dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), PV Gas (GAS), property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai Corp (HAG) and logistics company Gemadept (GMD) all fell from between 0.5-1.1 percent.

Among the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, nine advanced, nine declined and 12 closed flat. The VN30 rose a mere 0.02 percent to 559.16 points.

Many mid caps and blue chips gained around 10 percent in the past week and investors decided to lock in quick profits.

The market volume was little changed compared with the previous session to 60.6 million shares but the value of trades tumbled 14 percent to 978.4 billion VND (46.6 million USD).

Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA) remained the most active code by the end of the day's session with 4.6 million shares changing hands. ITA surged 3.33 percent to 6,200 VND a share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also edged down 0.13 percent at 62.25 points.

The market volume reduced 40 percent from a day earlier to over 16.2 million shares while the trading value dropped 20 percent to more than 156 billion VND (7.4 million USD).

Business results were mixed among listed companies. While large enterprises posted positive earning reports, small and medium-sized firms announced modest profits and even losses.

The foreign sector concluded the day as net buyers on both exchanges but they picked up a total modest value of just over 9 billion VND (434,700 USD).-VNA