Profit booking intensified during March 20's trading, dragging shares onthe Ho Chi Minh City Exchange down. However, shares on Hanoi Exchangemanaged to close slightly up.

Yet the capital inflow into thestock market remained at a high level, topping at 5.3 trillion VND(252.38 million USD), 15 percent higher than March 19's total.

TheVN-Index slid 0.88 percent to end the day at 600.26 points and needs toincreasingly consolidate at the 600-point level during future tradingsessions.

The benchmark index was on a decreasing trend from10a.m. during the morning trading, as selling pressure intensified asthe value of many stocks increased due to investors' expectations.

With nearly 193 million shares traded, total trading value reached more than 3.7 trillion VND (176 million USD).

Meanwhile, on the southern bourse on March 20, losers overwhelmed gainers by 145-92.

Amongblue chips, the red colour spread across the billboard with two-thirdsof the VN30-package, or the southern bourse's 30 largest stocks bycapitalisation and liquidity, closing lower.

The VN30-Index lost5.86 points, or as much as 0.86 percent, to close at 676.08 points dueto drops from big names such as Bao Viet Group (BVH), Hoa Phat Group(HPG), PetroVietnam Drilling Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnamTransportation Corporation (PVT), FPT Group (FPT), PetroVietnam LowPressure Gas Distribution, Vingroup (VIC) and Vietcombank (VCB).

MasanGroup (MSN), after increasing to its ceiling price on March 17 as theMarket Vector Viet Nam ETF increased its holding of MSN during thefund's review of its investment list last week, slid 2.8 percent toclose at 105,000 VND (5 USD) per share. Vinamilk (VNM) also lost 3,000VND (1.5 cents) per share on March 20.

Only seven blue chipsmanaged to gain on March 20, including Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and TanTao Group (ITA) thanks to the buying of foreign investors.

Profit-bookingalso occurred on the Hanoi Exchange, however, the benchmark index endedslightly during the final trading minutes.

The HNX-Index edgedup 0.03 percent to land at 89.7 points, while the HNXFF-Index, trackingstocks with a minimum free-float rate of 5 percent, added 0.33 percent,or 0.36 percent to 90.71 points.

Composed of top stocks, the HNX30-Index gained 0.11 percent to reach 184.17 points.

The trading value reached 1.5 trillion VND (71.4 million USD) on the exchange of 138 million shares.

SaiGon – Ha Noi Bank (SHB) continued to lead the bourse by capitalisation,with more than 18.8 million shares traded, following a record tradingvolume of 31.4 million shares on March 19. SHB finished up 4.5 percentat 11,600 VND (5.5 cents) per share.

Also, foreign investorscontinued to be net sellers on March 20 with a net volume of 7 billionshares and a net value of VND174 billion (8.28 million USD),respectively, 34 percent lower but 46.47 percent higher than March 19.

Accordingto FPT Securities, the net selling of foreign investors hit therecovery of the benchmark indices. However, with significant capitalinflow, the market trend remains positive in the short term, accordingto FPT Securities.

Additionally, Vietnam Investment Securitiessaid the US Federal Reserve's expectation to raise interest rates soonerand faster than previously thought would have an impact on the foreigncapital inflow into the Vietnam stock market.-VNA