After a brief rise early in the morning session, shares continued to plunge on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on March 28, led by a slump in blue chips.

The VN-Index closed slightly off 0.12 percent from the previous day at 490.67 points, but steep declines for the top 30 shares on the bourse pulled the VN30 down more significantly by 0.52 percent at 551.92 points.

Following news of the sale of the Gemadept Tower in HCM City , transport firm Gemadept (GMD) slid 3.8 percent to 1.3 million shares, its first decrease after three continuous sessions of hitting the ceiling limit for rises.

Among a few gainers, PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) rose 1.9 per cent to 53,000 VND (2.52 USD) while dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM) was up 1.8 percent to 114,000 VND (5.43 USD).

Trading value improved slightly, totalling nearly 897 billion VND (42.7 million USD), up 18.5 per cent over the previous day.

Tan Tao Investment – Industry (ITA) continued to be the most active stock on the southern bourse with 4.4 million shares traded, but the share slumped 4.3 percent to 6,700 VND.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost another 0.51 percent to finish the day at 60.31 point.

Trading volume continued to slide, amounting to 36.7 million shares, worth just 277.5 billion VND (8.3 million USD), with Sai Gon- Hanoi Bank (SHB) being the most active code on trades of 9.7 million shares. SHB closed down 1.5 percent to 6,600 VND.

Despite the downtrend, foreign investors remained net buyer on both markets, picking up shares worth a combined 75 billion VND (3.6 million USD). They focused their buys on blue chips such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), Hoa Phat group (HPG), Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG).-VNA