A rebound in blue chips in the final minutes of Sept. 23's session on the HCM Stock Exchange helped saved the market from a steeper decline and allowed the VN-Index to close off just 0.69 percent to 450.77 points – after falling to as low as 447 earlier in the day.

Transactions were sluggish throughout most of the session, while decliners outnumbered advancers overall by 184-36.

Ocean Group (OGC) was again the most-active share, with almost 4 million sold. However, the shares plunged by 4.46 percent to end the day at a price of 34,200 VND (1.75 USD) per share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index declined by a more dramatic 1.29 percent Sept. 23, closing at 129.83 points.

However, volume rose by 41 percent over the previous day's session to 36.7 million shares, worth 879.6 billion VND (45.1 million USD).

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) continued to be the most heavily-traded share nationwide, with almost 4.4 million changing hands, but PVX closed off by over 2.9 percent to a price of 23,200 VND (1.19 USD) per share.

HCM City Securities Co analysts on Sept. 23 wrote that investors were still awaiting September inflations figures as well as the results of the State Bank of Vietnam 's review of its Circular No 13, which would impose stricter risk management requirements on commercial banks.

Until investors received more data, they suggested, the market would continue to tread water.

Vu Thanh Tung, who represents an investment fund from the Republic of Korea in Hanoi , agreed that investors were looking for clearer signs of economic trends in the final quarter of the year, particularly regarding inflation, interest rates and foreign exchange rates, before making investment decisions./.