Shares continued to decline on both stock exchanges on Oct. 4, although they rebounded on the Hanoi bourse in the final minutes before the closing bell.

After nearly two weeks of declines, investors become overly cautious, Vietcombank Securities Co analysts wrote in a note, predicting that the current state of affairs will continue into coming sessions absent any positive news.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost another 0.93 percent to close at 418.18 points. Trades continued sluggish with just 28.4 million shares changing hands, for a value of nearly 485.7 billion VND(23.3 million USD).

Decliners outnumbered advancers by 160-68, with 45 codes falling to their floor prices.

The performance of blue chips was mixed. Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) rose by 0.8 percent, while real estate developer Vincom (VIC) dropped by 3.1 percent and Vietinbank (CTG) closed down 2.4 percent.

Pha Lai Thermal Power Co (PPC) surprised as the most-active share on the southern bourse with more than 1.3 million traded. PPC hit its ceiling price of 7,200 VND per share by the end of the session.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index managed a gain 0.11 percent in the waning minutes of the session to close at 70.46. The value of trades decreased slightly from Oct. 3 to nearly 323.4 billion VND (15.5 million USD) on a volume of 32.8 million shares.

VNDSecurities (VND) was the most-active share nationwide, with 2.3 million shares changing hands.

The State Securities Commission yesterday said it was asking its units, including the two stock exchanges and the securities depository centre, to monitor markets and gather evidence of short sales. The commission suspects that a number of major investors have abused short sales to force abrupt market shifts during intra-day trading, greatly affecting the psychology of smaller investors./.