Vietnam's stock market slips after hitting 2 month high

Vietnam's stock market slipped on Friday after breaking the 500 points mark and recording the two- month high earlier this week. The rising anxiety over the United States budget deadlock continued to have impacts on investors' sentiment. From the beginning of 2013, the VN-Index, the benchmark of the country's southern Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) exceeded the 500-point level seven times and often lost the level shortly afterwards. The VN-Index of HoSE went down 0.28 points or 0.06 percent to close at 494.53 points on Friday. During the week, VN-Index lost 2.97 point or 0.6 percent against last Friday's closing session. The index experienced two ups and three downs, posting the highest level of 502.22 points on Tuesday and the lowest level of 494.53 points on Friday. Last week VN-Index ranged from 492.24 points to 497.5 points. A total of 53.528 million shares worth 841.479 billion VND (39. 88 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the HoSE on Friday, a decrease of 24.25 percent in volume and 34.71 percent in value against Thursday. VN-30 index, the new benchmark index for the HoSE which has been applied since Feb. 6, 2012 and tracks the 30 leading shares by both market capitalization and liquidity, closed at 552.16 points on Friday, up 0.3 points, or 0.05 percent against the previous trading day. A total of 17.163 million shares were traded, worth 430 billion VND. On the country's northern bourse, Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index concluded at 60.63 points, down 0.1 points, or 0.17 percent on Friday against the previous trading day's closing session. The market recorded the 11th consecutive trading session of foreign buying, with total value of 521 billion Vietnamese dong. This is considered one of the factors that help retain the market liquidity. Analysts said that in the short term, business outcome reports for the third quarter of several enterprises are expected to support the upward trend of the market. It is forecast a positive trend for the VN-Index in the last quarter of the year, however investors are advised to be cautious about buying decisions and to choose stocks with promising growth in the remaining months of the year.