Stocks reversed a two-session rally to fall during trades on June 19 despite rumours that petrol prices can decline again.

As the global energy market dwindled overnight, domestic petrol dealers said that retail prices can fall further.

"Investor pessimism overshadowed the market as cash flows were too weak," FPT Securities Co's analysts wrote on the company's website on June 19. "Poor trading ate away the confidence in the uptrend driven by the Government's plan to support the economy."

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the decline gathered pace in the afternoon session, driving the VN-Index down over 1 per cent to close at 431.08 points.

Blue chips retreated. Up to 24 of the 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity sank while only four codes climbed, depressing the VN30 Index down 0.81 per cent to 506.67 points.

Only Khang Dien House (KDH) sustained its morning rise, settling at the ceiling price of 16,500 VND (0.79 USD) per share by the end of the session.

Total value of trades tripled that of the morning's session, reaching over 1.15 trillion VND (54.8 million USD) on a volume of 68.6 million shares. However, negotiated trades accounted for almost a half, led by the Military Bank (MBB) whose shares saw trade worth 213 billion VND (10.1 million USD), accounting for 15 million MBB shares.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also sank by more than 1 percent, concluding the June 19's session at just 74.08 points.

Market volume and value continued to be modest with only 35.6 million shares, worth nearly 372 billion VND (17.7 million USD), changing hands.

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX), with over 3.5 million shares traded, was again the most active stock nationwide, losing 3.7 percent to a close of 10,300 VND (0.49 USD) a share.

Low inflation and reduced interest rates no longer weighed heavily on the market. Investors were paying more attention to credit growth, said Dao Hong Duong, analyst of PetroVietnam Securities Inc.

"Debt reduction influences the market and entices investors," Duong said.

"The market's ups and downs also depend on the world market and moves by foreign investors," he added, noting that if foreigners continue to dump shares, the market would likely see another downturn.

Foreign investors turned out to be net buyers on June 19 on both stock exchanges, picking up a combined net buy of over 25 billion VND (1.2 million USD) worth of shares.-VNA