The VN-Index continued to tread water on July 26, ending the session largely unchanged from July 25 at 409.39 points. However, almost half of all codes on the HCM Stock Exchange lost value.

The value of trades increased 21 percent to 306.6 billion VND (14.9 million USD), on a volume of over 19.6 million shares.

Despite the general downwtrend on the market, some large caps posting high earnings in the first half managed gains, propping up the Index.

For instance, software producer FPT, which reported a pre-tax profit of 1.2 trillion VND (58.3 million USD) in the first six months of the year – a year-on-year increase of 11 percent – saw its shares rise 1.9 percent on July 26.

Vietinbank (CTG) earned a pre-tax profit of over 3.6 trillion VND (175.7 million USD) in the first half, and CTG shares rose by 0.4 percent. Shares of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG) increased by 0.3 percent on the announcement of a first-half net profit of 982 billion VND (47.7 million USD) – a year-on-year increase of 68 percent.

Without yet reporting business results, shares of real estate developer Vincom (VIC) posted even more impressive gains on July 26, closing up 3.4 percent.

Real estate services provider Hoang Quan Corp (HQC) surprised the market to become the most heavily-traded stock with over 1.2 million shares changing hands. However it ended the session down 3.4 percent.

Money flows into the market remained weak, but several bank shares were still attractive to investors, analysts of PetroVietnam Securities Inc wrote in a note.

It would be hard to say when the prolonged downtrend would end, particularly in the context of profuse negative information on the market, they said, predicting that the market would continue to decline without supporting news.

Shares continued their downward spiral on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, with the HNX-Index sliding another 0.5 percent to close at 69.91 points. Only 76 out of 387 shares advanced.

Market value continued to decline to just around 166.8 billion VND (8 million USD) as just 15.7 million shares changed hands. Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) again claimed the position as the most-active share on a volume of nearly 1.8 million shares, closing unchanged at 10,500 VND.

Foreign investors were net sellers in HCM City on July 26, unloading just over 3.3 billion VND (160,200 USD) worth of shares, but they were net buyers in Hanoi, responsible for a net buy of 921 million VND (44,700 USD) worth of shares./.