HA NOI (VNS) — The decline of the stock market eased yesterday with indices falling below one per cent.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index slid 0.4 per cent to reach 478.07 points.

Trading value jumped 60.5 per cent over Monday's level, hitting almost VND1.5 trillion (US$71.4 million) on a volume of 58.2 million shares.

Market sentiment improved as over one-third of the listed stocks posted gains in comparison with only one-sixth on Monday.

The performance of blue chips in general improved compared to Monday's trades. Among the 30 top shares tracked by the VN30, nine shares finished in the black, including major stocks such as Eximbank (EIB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vinamilk (VNM).

The index still retreated 0.5 per cent to 538.17 points.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index managed to gain 0.54 per cent to close at 59.19 points. Advancers outnumbered decliners 108-73.

However, trading was sluggish with 32 million shares worth nearly VND242.2 billion ($11.5 million) changing hands.

The HNX30 added more than 0.5 per cent to hit 111.06 points thanks to increased movement of blue chips.

After buying by a large value on Monday, foreign investors turned to selling yesterday with a net selling value of VND25.47 billion ($1.7 million) in HCM City. They remained buyers in Ha Noi by a margin of nearly VND11 billion ($523,800).

The State Bank of Viet Nam carried out its seventh gold auction yesterday morning with nearly 99 per cent of the gold finding buyers.

The bottom price the bank gave was VND38.67 million ($1,841) per tael (one tael equals 1.2 ounces), higher than the world price by almost VND5 million ($238) but still lower than the domestic market price.

The gold sold yesterday morning was VND38.7-38.92 million ($1,842-1,853) per tael.

However, world prices climbed in the afternoon, pushing the domestic price up to around VND41 million ($1,950), creating profits for those who bought gold in the morning auction. — VNS