Many blue chips declined yesterday afternoon despite a positive start earlier, dragging down the VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange.

HA NOI (VNS)— Many blue chips declined yesterday afternoon despite a positive start earlier, dragging down the VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange.

Though the gainers outnumbered the losers by 113-89, the VN-Index still lost 0.08 per cent to close yesterday's session at 507.79 points.

Major stocks, such as private equity Masan Group (MSN), dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), PV Gas (GAS), property developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai Corp (HAG) and logistics company Gemadept (GMD) all fell from between 0.5-1.1 per cent.

Among the top 30 shares by market capitalisation and liquidity, nine advanced, nine declined and 12 closed flat. The VN30 rose a mere 0.02 per cent to 559.16 points.

Many mid caps and blue chips gained around 10 per cent in the past week and investors decided to lock in quick profits.

"When the market is slow, it is a good decision to take as much margin as possible," analysts at FPT Securities Co commented on the company's website.

The market volume was little changed compared with the previous session to 60.6 million shares but the value of trades tumbled 14 per cent to VND978.4 billion (US$46.6 million).

Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA) remained the most active code by the end of yesterday's session with 4.6 million shares changing hands. ITA surged 3.33 per cent to VND6,200 a share.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also edged down 0.13 per cent at 62.25 points.

The market volume reduced 40 per cent from a day earlier to over 16.2 million shares while the trading value dropped 20 per cent to more than VND156 billion ($7.4 million).

Business results were mixed among listed companies. While large enterprises posted positive earning reports, small and medium-sized firms announced modest profits and even losses.

In the absence of supporting macro economic information, market movements would be driven by the earning reports of companies, stock analysts at Bao Viet Securities Co said in a note.

"Actually information of company business results has been reflected in stock price changes in early sessions. However, such information can provide hints for the growth prospects of companies in the latter half of the year, which would affect stock movements in the future," they said.

The foreign sector concluded yesterday as net buyers on both exchanges but they picked up a total modest value of just over VND9 billion ($434,700). — VNS