wave of profit-taking swamped gains by major shares

Hanoi (VNA) – A wave of profit-taking swamped gains by major shares early in the
Nov. 23 session on the HCM Stock Exchange and sent the VN-Index into a sharp
decline.

The Index ended the day down 3.34 percent to 537.29 points, while trading remained
active. Market value reached 2.37 trillion VND (131.6 million USD) on a volume of
47.85 million shares.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also shed over 3 percent of its value to
close at 179.13. The value of the day’s trades totalled 958.8 billion VND (53.3
million USD) on a volume of 22.8 million shares.

With interest rates tending to increase, and brokerages less willing to lend money
for securities trading, a major source of capital for securities trading had been
choked off, suggested analysts from Dai Viet Securities Co.

Eurocapital Securities predicted the market would brighten before the weekend and
was suggesting professional investors participate in the market now.

A survey by online newspaper vnexpress.net showed that 48 percent of respondents
planned to inject half of their capital into securities this week while 20 percent
had no plan to join in. Over 27 percent would buy in if trading kept rallied
early this week.-Endite