Share sell-off took stock prices lower on Jan. 12 as the VN-Index slid 3.25 percent to 498.31 points, with 51.58 million shares changing hands, netting a turnover of 2.31 trillion VND (124.9 million USD).

The southern market saw 170 stocks fall while only 16 stocks rose, all of which were penny chips. “It’s a negative sign for the market when small caps advance while big caps fall,” said Luong Bien Nhan Quyen, an analyst from Kimeng Vietnam Securities.

A market correction would likely follow and the VN-Index will probably fall to 486.6 –supportive mark, forecasted Quyen.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index continued declining by 3.65 percent, ending Jan. 12’s trade at 170.57 points. Value of day trade totalled 989.84 billion VND (53.5 million USD) from a volume of 27.60 million traded shares. The northern market on Jan. 12 received 4.5 million shares from the floating of Tran Anh Computer, the 261 st stock to be listed on the market to date. The listing of the computer services provider lifted the total market volume to 3.6 billion shares, valued at a total of 36.73 trillion VND (2 billion USD).

Foreign investors continued to be net-buyers in both stock exchanges, picking up 3.62 million shares for a net value of 68.22 billion VND (3.7 million USD).

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Mark Mobius from Templeton Asset Management, said Vietnam had attracted foreign investors as it was among the so-called frontier markets that looked “particularly cheap”./.