Vietnam's stock market retains sluggish trend

Vietnam's stock market kept the sluggish trend during the week with alternate up and down trading sessions. The positive sign of slow down national Consumer Price Index ( CPI) rise in October to 0.85 percent over September's 2.2 percent failed to excite up investors' sentiment. According to analysts, the ban on short sales and tightened control on deposits on investor accounts contributed to sluggish trading during recent sessions. The VN-Index on the country's national southern bourse named the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) went up 1.78 points, or 0.46 percent to close at 391.7 points on Friday over the previous trading day. During the week, VN-Index lost 6.53 points or 1.66 percent against last Friday's closing session. It experienced two ups and three downs, posting the highest level of 397.71 points on Tuesday and the lowest level of 389.92 points on Thursday. Last week VN-Index ranged from 391.56 points to 399.22 points. A total of 22.930 million shares worth 292.551 billion VND (14. 03 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the HoSE on Friday, a decrease of 87.52 percent in volume and 118.07 percent in value against Thursday. According to previous trends, after a period of low liquidity, a wave of strong selling is likely to occur before the market can rebound, said analysts. VN-30 index, the new benchmark index for the HoSE which has been applied since Feb. 6 and tracks the 30 leading shares by both market capitalization and liquidity, closed at 462.16 points on Friday, up 2.23 points, or 0.48 percent against the previous trading day. A total of 7.502 million shares were traded, worth 139.7 billion VND (6.7 million U.S. dollars). On the country's northern bourse, Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX- Index concluded at 53.79 points, down 0.09 points, or 0.17 percent on Friday against the previous trading day's closing session. Compared to the first trading day of the year, when VN-Index posted 350 points and HNX-Index at 56.79 points, the HoSE gained 41.7 points while the Hanoi bourse lost 3 points.