Shares tumbled on both bourses on February 27, but the significant capital inflow proved the staying power of the stock market.

The trading value on both national stock exchanges totalled 4.4 trillion VND (209.5 million USD), just slightly lower than the record of 5.5 trillion VND (261.9 million USD) a week ago.

According to the forecast of many analysts, the stock market is becoming an attractive investment channel, given that market liquidity had strongly improved since Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Shares were seen opening higher, with gains from large caps pushing the VN-Index on Ho Chi Minh City Exchange to reach 596 points in the morning trading session.

However, the trend was reversed during afternoon trading when selling pressure suddenly intensified, dragging down the benchmark index.

The VN-Index closed 0.85 percent lower at 584.79 points on February 27.

Profit-taking occurred for blue chips on the VN30-Index, which tracks the southern city's 30 largest shares by capitalisation and liquidity, losing 0.77 percent to end at 662.74 points.

Of these, two thirds closed in the red, overwhelming the eight gainers.

After four consecutive days of posting gains, Hoa Sen Group (HSG) decreased 5.2 percent per share to 54,500 VND (2.7 USD).

Decliners also included big names such as Masan Group (MSN), PetroVietnam Drilling (PVD), Kinh Do (KDC), and FPT Group (FPT) Southern Rubber Corporation (CSM), Da Nang Rubber Corporation (DRC) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) also saw a decline.

The capital inflow shifted from blue chips to penny and midcaps, helping these stocks post gains.

On the southern bourse, 92 codes managed to increase, while 145 codes lost value. With more than 225.2 million shares changing hands, the total trading value reached about 3.5 trillion VND (166 million USD).

Banking stocks maintained their activeness from the previous day with Vietinbank (CTG), Eximbank (EIB), Military Bank (MBB), and Vietcombank (VCB) posting gains.

A record 25.48 million shares of Tan Tao Group (ITA) changed hands on February 27, with the stock edging up 300 VND to 8,000 VND per share.

On Ha Noi Exchange, the HNX-Index also reversed its upward trend in the afternoon trading session, with a drop of 2 percent to end at 82.63 points.

However, the HNXFF-Index, tracking stocks with a minimum free-float rate of 5 percent, advanced 0.26 percent to reach 82.13 points.

On the capital city's bourse, more than 110 million shares were exchanged for a total value of 1.06 trillion VND (50.4 million USD).

The HNX30-Index finished at 164.84 points, a decline of 0.85 percent.

According to FPT Securities, the market will witness some trading sessions with losses in the short term, which will help the benchmark indices consolidate and gain higher points in the long term.

Some securities firms recently forecast that the VN-Index would hit 700 points this year, following an increase of 22 per cent last year.

Foreign investors continued to inject money into the market on the day, with net volume and value of more than 2 million shares and 76.5 billion VND (3.64 million USD), or 44.77 percent and 76.73 percent rises over the previous day, respectively.-VNA