Index stalls on slow trades

Hanoi (VNA) - Trading remained mixed on the HCM Stock Exchange on Jan. 19, with the
VN-Index slipping by 0.37 percent to close at 304.98, while the trading volume fell
by 38 percent from the previous session, to just 4.5 million shares.

The value of Jan. 19's trades reached only 106.03 billion VND (6.2 million USD).

Sacombank (STB) led the market with about 535,300 shares changing hands, followed
the Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) with 247,400 shares, and Hoa Sen Group (HSG) wiuth
183,500.

Foreign-investor transactions were also sluggish, with about 1.2 million shares
traded. Foreigners were net buyers of only 62,500 shares with a net value of 6
billion VND (353,000 USD).

VNDirect Securities wrote in a report on Jan. 19 that although the past week saw
some local listed firms announce gold business results and the Government officially
adopted its 1 billion USD stimulus package, "the domestic stock market is showing no
signs of getting busy again. Perhaps investors are awaiting the coming Tet (Lunar
New Year) holiday and considering entering the market afterwards, in addition to
waiting on factors that are really of significance to the market."

Hoang Thach Lan, director of the SME Securities analysis department, said investors
should consider carefully when making investment decisions at this time, suggesting
they should wait for companies' 2008 financial reports and prepare their own plans
for the year before choosing shares.
In Hanoi , the HASTC-Index slipped 0.87 percent to end the day at 101.95
points, on a negligible trading volume of 2.5 million shares and a turnover of
just 51.3 billion VND (3 million USD).

Market leaders Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) generated orders for only 498,000 shares
and its runner-up, Kim Long Securities (KLS), for only 207,000.-Enditem