HANOI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will narrow the stock trading band, facilitate listed firms in buying back shares, and encourage banks not to sell off shares pledged in collateral by securities investors, to limit the ongoing downward trend of the local stock market.

    Vietnam's State Securities Commission on Tuesday allowed the HoChi Minh City Stock Exchange to apply the stock trading band of one percent from March 27 instead of the current five percent, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Wednesday.

    It also permitted the Hanoi Securities Trading Center to apply the trading band of two percent from March 27 instead of the current 10 percent.

    Besides, the Vietnamese government will allow listed firms to buy back shares under simplified procedures, urge the State Capital Investment Corporation to buy more shares to promote capital flows to the market, and encourage local banks not to sell off shares pledged in collateral by securities investors.

    The moves came after a string of recent trading sessions duringwhich most shares on the bourse hit the floor for several days running, sending the VN-Index into a nosedive. The index closed onTuesday by dipping below the 500-mark.

    Vietnam currently has 150 kinds of listed shares, 375 kinds of listed bonds, mostly government bonds, and three listed investment funds totaling nearly 99,864 billion Vietnamese dong (6.24 billion U.S. dollars), according to the latest statistics from the commission.