Shares reversed gains of October 2 and began to slide on both national stock exchanges.

However, according to FPT Securities Co analysts, slumps on October 3 were caused by profit-taking rather than sell-offs, and demand for shares at low prices prevailed.

On the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index shed 0.4 percent to 492.30 points. Losers overwhelmed gainers by 129-84.

Trading value dropped around 20 percent over session of October 2 to reach 810 billion VND (38.2 million USD) on a volume of nearly 62.7 million shares.

The VN30, tracking the city's top 30 shares in terms of capitalisation and liquidity, also lost 0.6 percent to close at 549.58 points.

Only logistics firm Gemadept (GMD), Kinh Do Confectionery (KDC), PetroVietnam Drilling Services (PVD) and PetroVietnam General Services (PET) managed to add between 0.5-2 percent, while 20 other blue chips retreated.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index finished the session at 61 points, down 0.08 percent from the previous day.

Trading value and volume totalled more than 274.7 billion VND (12.9 million USD) and 37.7 million shares, respectively.

The HNX30, representing the performance of Hanoi's leading shares, slid 0.15 percent to 113.53 points.

PetroVietnam Construction (PVX), a speculative stock that attracts many investors, plunged on October 3 to its floor price of just 2,700 VND per share.

The stock has fallen steadily over the past six months, and the company reported a post-tax loss of 952 billion VND (44.9 million USD) in the first six months of this year.

The company's accumulated losses as of June reached over 2.5 trillion VND (117.9 million USD), and short-term debts exceeded short-term assets by around 1 trillion VND (47.1 million USD).

Auditing firm Deloitte said that this situation could affect the company's solvency in the next 12 months.

Foreign investors finished the day as net sellers on the northern bourse by a margin of 3.45 billion VND (162,700 USD), but remained net buyers in Ho Chi Minh City by 12.9 billion VND (608,400 USD).-VNA