Shares rebounded in the last minutes of Jan. 6's session on the HCM Stock Exchange, erasing the effects of a gloomy start to the day. The VN-Index closed a little higher than Jan. 6 to 482.31 points.
The overall volume of trades declined, however, to just 29.5 million shares worth less than 698 billion VND (33 million USD).
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 125-69, with banking shares such as Eximbank (EIB), Vietinbank (CTG), Sacombank (STB) and Vietcombank (VCB) making modest gains. EIB was the most-active share nationwide, with about 2.7 million traded.
Market insiders noted that many major banks had recently forecast they would likely surpass business targets for last year, helping whet investor appetites for bank shares.
Insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), up 2.9 percent, also rose for a third consecutive day, contributing heavily to the overall gain in the VN-Index yesterday.
Trading on the Hanoi Stock Exchange followed a similar pattern, with the HNX-Index rising 0.25 percent after more active trading in the final minutes of the session to close at 111.44 points.
Both volume and value fell by around 15 percent to 19.58 million shares worth 385.4 billion VND (18.4 million USD).
Losers outnumbered gainers by 134-119, with advancers concentrated entirely among mid caps or penny stocks.
Kim Long Securities (KLS), with 1.85 million shares exchanged, was the most heavily-traded share on the Hanoi bourse, closing unchanged at 15,800 VND (0.75 USD).
Analysts with Wall Street Securities Co said that given the lack of supporting information, buyers and sellers were being highly cautious, and they expected depressed market liquidity for the next couple of sessions.
"Mid caps and penny stocks are unlikely to break out, and the indices could be distorted by the more heavily-capitalised stocks," they wrote in a daily market report.
However, money was waiting on a positive signal to enter the market and might create an unexpected development, they said, advising investors to keep a close eye on leading shares such as banking and financial and real estate stocks.
Foreign investors remained net buyers on both exchanges yesterdays, picking up a net of over 1.9 million shares, worth a combined 81 billion VND (3.9 million USD)./.
