HO CHI MINH CITY, May 2 (Xinhua) -- VN-Index, the stock market index of Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City bourse in south Vietnam, closed at 1,029.08 points on Wednesday, down 21.18 points, or 2.02 percent, against the last Fridays closing session.

About 183.262 million share worth 5.746 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (254.87 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the southern HCM City Stock Exchange. Prices of 98 stocks went up, 185 stocks fell down, while 46 stocks remained unchanged.

VN30-Index, the new benchmark index for the southern bourse, which tracks the 30 leading stocks by both market capitalization and liquidity, closed at 1,012.84 points, down 15.13 points or 1.47 percent.

A total of 68.947 million shares worth 3.608 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND)(160.04 million U.S. dollars) were traded on Wednesday.