Shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange fluctuated during yesterday's session before closing nearly unchanged at 432.50 points. Advancers, however, outnumbered decliners by a more clear-cut margin of 136-85.

The value of trades totalled 1.18 trillion VND (56 million USD), slightly below June 8’s level, on a volume of over 68 million shares.

Meanwhile, the VN30 Index, tracking the exchange's 30 leading stocks, advanced by nearly 0.4 percent to 509.99 points. Of the shares tracked by the index, three hit their ceiling prices, including HCM City Infrastructure Investment Co (CII), Vietinbank (CTG) and financial conglomerate Ocean Group (OGC).

Seven of the shares in this group lost 0.3-1.8 percent of their value, including Sacombank (STB), Vietcombank (VCB) and insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH). Along with Vietcombank, the leading share on the market by capitalisation, runner-up PetroVietnam Gas (GAS) also dropped 1.9 percent.

During the trading session, the market witnessed some minutes of high investment, but demand overall failed to keep pace, Hoa Binh Securities Co analyst Vu Thai Ha wrote in a note.

"The short-term uptrend of the market is still being challenged," Ha said, suggesting investors could buy shares but limit their investment and pick wisely.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index reversed June 8’s losses to add nearly a percent to its value, concluding the session at 75.80 points. Value reached 629.4 billion VND (29.9 million USD), a decline of 9.2 percent from June 8 sesion, as volume reached around 60.4 million shares.

PetroVietnam Construction Co (PVX) was the most-active share with 15.8 million shares changing hands. It rose nearly 5 percent to close at 10,800 VND per share.

Foreign investors concluded the day as net buyers in Hanoi by a margin of 14.5 billion VND (690,400 USD) but are sellers in HCM City , unloading shares worth a net of 111 billion VND (5.2 million USD).-VNA