Despite early gains in the morning, shares tumbled on both stock exchanges on April 18.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index lost 0.14 percent to stand at 472.16 points. Profit-taking largely drove trading in the markets, which ended at nearly 2.5 trillion VND (119 million USD) on a volume of 143.5 million shares, an increase of 25 percent in value and 21.6 percent in volume over April 17's session.

Nearly three-quarters of the 30 leading shares by market value and liquidity declined. Also three real estate shares hit record lows, including Khang Dien House (KDH), Quoc Cuong Gia Lai (QCG) and Sudico (SJS).

Eight other stocks on the VN30 contributed to its decline, which closed at 541.60 points, down by 0.46 percent.

A number of real estate firms managed to continue their rising streak, even set highs, including Becamex Infrastructure Development (IJC), Dat Xanh Real Estate Service and Construction (DXG), Kinh Bac City Development (KBC) and Tu Liem Urban Development (NTL).

Telecommunications equipment provider Sacom (SAM) was the most widely traded stock, with 7.3 million shares changing hands.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index slid 0.7 percent to finish at 79.33 points on a turnover of nearly 1.27 trillion VND (60 million USD).

Declines led advances by a margin of 144-138.

In Hanoi, Habubank was still the most actively traded stock in terms of volume, around 11.7 million shares, but still closed down 1.4 percent at 6,900 VND.