The VN-Index lost another 1 percent to close the session on April 22 at 468.43 points.

Only 39.7 million shares, worth 656 billion VND (31.2 million USD), changed hands, nearly unchanged compared to the previous session's levels.

Blue chips weighed on the market again as up to 21 of the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity sank while only two advanced, pushing the VN30 Index down 0.9 percent to 527.63 points.

PetroVietnam Finance (PVF), Ocean Group (OGC), Gemadept (GMD) and HCM City Infrastructure Investment (CII) were the biggest losers on the day, each declining by almost 7 percent, the maximum intra-day plunge on the southern bourse.

Tan Tao Investment Industry (ITA) continued to be the most active code here on trades of 3.55 million shares but slid 5.08 percent to close at 5,600 VND a share.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also fell 1.29 percent to finish at 57.61 points with a low trading value of 200.4 billion VND (9.5 million USD).

Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) was the most active code with nearly 5.4 million shares, sliding 3.08 percent to a close of 6,300 VND a share.

Foreigners concluded the day as net buyers on both exchanges but they picked up combined shares worth a modest 24.22 billion VND (1.15 million USD).-VNA