Vietnamese stocks surge, led by energy

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese shares on January 25 enjoyed their biggest jump in almost four years as energy stocks benefited from a strong rebound in global oil prices.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange jumped 3.9 percent to close at 542.35 points, the largest one-day increase since March, 2012. The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange rose 3.4 percent to end at 76.35 points and has gained 4.5 percent in the past two sessions.

Global oil prices on January 25 slid after the state-owned Saudi Arabia Oil Company signaled it would not cut production. US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and London-traded Brent crude lost 3.6 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, to trade at nearly 31 USD a barrel.

However, the WTI price has risen nearly 17 percent since it touched a twelve-year low at 26.55 USD a barrel on January 20, and Brent crude price has gained 11.4 percent from its twelve-year low of 27.88 USD hit on the same day.

The energy sector surged 4.4 percent to extend gains from a jump of 3.1 percent on January 22. Energy stocks that made gains included PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD), which surged 6.7 percent, and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), which jumped nearly 10 percent.

In addition to higher oil prices, PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS) jumped 6.9 percent and fuel dealer Petroleum Gas Corporation (PGC) was up 1.9 percent after the two firms reported profits during last year.

Meanwhile, investors were upbeat after the European Central Bank and Japan's central bank signaled they may implement stimulus measures in the near future.

The stock markets received a strong boost from the banking sector with Vietcombank (VCB) jumping 5.3 percent, and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Vietinbank (CTG) surging 6.8 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.

On January 25, Vietnam's central bank raised its reference mid-point rate for exchange trading band by 2 VND to trade 21,910 VND for a US dollar. The mid-point rate has risen 20 VND since the beginning of the year.

Other stocks that also helped push the markets higher included dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), which gained 3.5 percent, and agricultural firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai JSC (HAG), which rose 6.3 percent. HAG also made gains after Vietnam's central bank denied rumours that the bank was investigating the company.

Both local bourses traded more than 211 million shares worth nearly 2.9 trillion VND (128.5 million USD), an increase of nearly a fifth from last week's daily trading value and higher than last year's daily trading value.-VNA