Hanoi (VNA)  — Shares declined for the first time in thelast four trades as investors still kept a cautious view on the market outlookamid global volatility following the US-China trade tension.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged down0.44 percent on March 29, closing at 1,167.03 points, after advancing 1.6 percentin the previous three days.

This was the second fall of this index in the past twoweeks. The southern market index has expanded more than 4 percent this month.

The trading volume continued to decrease with more than 185million shares being exchanged, down 11.2 percent from March 28’s level, butvalue of trades increased 6.6 percent, totaling 6.6 trillion VND (290 millionUSD).

“Continuous declining volume reflected a somewhat depressedsentiment of investors with the sluggish movements of the market in the pastfew sessions and thus disbursements were reduced to some degree,” analysts atSaigon-Hanoi Securities Co wrote in a note.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index closed off 0.51 percentat 131.88 points. Liquidity here also dropped to about 42 million shares worth 707billion VND being traded, down 5.3 percent in volume and 15.5 percent in valuecompared with March 28’s figures.

Large caps, which were used to be the market boost, divergedlargely on March 29.

Big losers included dairy giant Vinamilk (VNM), down 1.9 percent;lenders BIDV (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG), down 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent,respectively; FLC Faros Construction (ROS), down 6.7 percent; Hau GiangPharmaceutical (DHG), down 3.8 percent; and budget airline Vietjet (VJC), down1.3 percent.

The market was cushioned by growth of steelmaker Hoa PhatGroup (HPG) and FPT Corp (FPT), each up more than 1 percent; Vietcombank (VCB),up 0.7 percent; real estate conglomerate VinGroup (VIC), up 0.4 percent; andHDBank (HDB), up 1.2 percent.

According to MB Securities Co, caution is necessary in thecurrent context of rising volatility on the global markets, and we “may need aprevention strategy if the world stock markets witness unexpected slumps”.

Asian and US stocks declined for a second day on May 29 overfears China could target a broad range of US businesses if trade spat worsens.

Foreign investors turned heads selling out Vietnamese shareson March 29, offloading net sell value of 98 billion VND on the HCM City’sbourse but they remained net buyers on the Hanoi Stock Exchange for a modestvalue of more than 8 billion VND.-VNA