The VN-Index lost 4.36 points, or 1.26 per cent, to close at 340.69, while trading volume increased slightly to nearly 12 million shares on a turnover of VND362.5 billion (US$21.6 million). Trading activity continued to be minimal. Only Sacombank (STB) showed significant activity, with 2.2 million shares traded, while runner-up as most active share, Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), saw only 923,000 shares change hands. Foreign investor buys remained modest at 768,000 shares, while they continued to sell off shares to the tune of 2 million units. Net sales expanded to about VND52 billion ($3 million) from Monday’s VND3.7 billion ($220,000). "We are seeing caution from buyers, both domestic and foreign," commented a Dai Viet Securities report. "It’s a necessary attitude at this time, as the world economy is witnessing highly complex developments." It noted that the crisis had spread to retail and to manufacturing industries, with such major names as GM and Ford now struggling to survive. A Viet Nam International Securities Co report also showed worries about the short-term outlook for the economy, citing news that Standard & Poor’s was considering lowering Viet Nam’s credit rating. The report cited Deutsche Bank and Citigroup data predicting that Viet Nam’s economic growth would slow to 5.2 per cent next year, while the US, Japanese and EU economies were all entering 2009 in recession. Bloomberg chairman Peter Grauer told Dau tu Chung khoan (Securities Investment) last week that declines in economic growth would certainly affect companies’ profits, and would slash share values. He said that the downturn might last until the end of 2010. "The world recession is getting more serious, and may rapidly affect the domestic economy," said Pham Trung Thanh, an investor with SeABank Securities. Ngoc Ha, an investor with Saigon Securities Inc, said, "Investors are not so concerned about market declines as they were some weeks ago, but question whether now is a