Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -Vietnamese shares ended January 16 on a negative note as large-cap stocks werehit by strong selling as investors worried about a draft amendment on theinitial margin to be passed by market regulators.

The benchmark VN Index inched down 0.05percent to close at 1,062.96 points after having rallied by a total of 5 percentin the previous six straight sessions.

The minor HNX Index on the Hanoi StockExchange fell 0.36 percent to end at 121.59 points. It gained 1.06 percent on January15.

More than 406.6 million shares weretraded on the two local exchanges, worth nearly 9.2 trillion VND (408.4 millionUSD).

The trading figures were up 13 percentin volume and 6 percent in value compared to the numbers on January 15.

Market trading condition turnedslightly negative with 237 declining stocks against 214 gainers. Another 144other stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks were in negativeterritory with 16 of the 30 largest shares by market capitalisation in the VN30Index falling, pulling the large-cap index down 0.12 percent to 1,506.83points.

The worst decliners among those stocksincluded steel producer Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Kinh Bac City Development Holdings(KBC), Sacombank (STB), Coteccons Construction (CTD) and FLC Faros Construction(ROS).

HSG slumped 4.4 percent after Hoa SenGroup on January 16 announced at its annual shareholder meeting that ittargeted 1.35 trillion VND in post-tax profit, a yearly reduction of 10 percent.

STB was down 2.6 percent after about 83million shares in the bank were put up for sale and ROS fell 2 percent from athree-day increase of 2 percent.

On the positive side, shares inagricultural firms Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAG) and HAGL Agrico (HNG) soared 7 percentand 5.7 percent respectively after they were removed from the warning listissued by the State Securities Commission.

Strong investor selling pressure wasanother factor that pushed the stock market down on January 16. This relates toa draft policy on raising the ratio of initial margin deposit at securitiescompanies that may be passed by the State Securities Commission, according to SaiGon-Hanoi Securities Company (SHS).

“Today’s correction might be theresults of investor reaction regarding yesterday’s news on ‘margin lendingcontraction’,” Viet Dragon Securities Company (VDSC) said in its daily report.

“The news could affect the market inthe short-term, but it will not possibly create a significant correction,” VDSCsaid.

Sharing the same market outlook, SHSsaid that investor confidence remained strong on January 16. This helped the VNIndex rebound from its intraday low of 1,052.43 points.

“The VN Index could continue strugglingagainst investor selling pressure after it rising significantly to a range of1,060-1,070 points,” SHS added.-VNA