Share values remained essentially unchanged on the HCM Stock Exchange on Aug. 15, following an overnight recovery in global markets, but they continued to decline in Hanoi , while trading on both bourses remained sluggish.

In HCM City , the value of trades dropped by 36 percent from the previous transaction day’s level on Aug. 12 to a very meagre 230.6 billion VND (11 million USD). Volume reached only 15.5 million shares.

Sacombank (STB) was the only share seeing trades in excess of a million shares, but closed unchanged at 12,800 VND. Overall, decliners outnumbered advancers by 116-84.

The market is likely to continue declining this week, but at a slower pace than last week, wrote FPT Securities Co analysts in a note.

"Market recovery can only be sustainable if there is real positive change in the economy to attract investors back to the market," they wrote. "Government measures to solve existing problems will take time to prove effective, but this will also raise expectations about the recovery for investors."

In Hanoi , trades were mixed. The HNX-Index slid by 0.36 percent from Aug. 12's close to end on Aug. 15's session at 65.78 points. The value of trades decreased slightly to 147.5 billion VND (7.1 million USD) as just 15.4 million shares changed hands.

Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), with over two million shares exchanged, became the most-active share nationwide, closing unchanged at 6,800 VND per share.

Foreign investors were net buyers of nearly 1 billion VND (48,000 USD) worth of shares on the HCM City bourse but were net sellers in Hanoi , unloading about 4 billion VND (192,300 USD) worth of shares./.