Hanoi (VNA)🎀 - Vietnamese shares on January 26 pulled back from a four-year jump early this week as a sharp fall in oil prices dragged down investor confidence on global markets.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange fell 0.9 percent to close at 537.73 points and the HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange dropped 1.1 percent to end at 75.51 points. Oil prices on January 26 continued to fall near their twelve-year lows after Iraq announced a record output last month and planned to raise production this year. Benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 0.8 percent to trade at 30 USD a barrel while London-traded Brent crude lost 0.9 percent to trade at 30.24 USD a barrel. WTI crude price has slid 6.5 percent over past two sessions since a two-day rally of 21 percent from its twelve-year low touched on January 20, while Brent crude price has slipped 6 percent after gaining 15.4 percent. In addition, investors were looking forward to the decisions made by the United States (US) and Japan's central bank whether they should implement easing policies on the economies. These two factors were the main reasons that dragged down investor confidence in local stocks on January 26. The plastic sector index lost 3.9 percent, led by Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP), which dropped 3.3 percent, and Tien Phong Plastic JSC (NTP), which slumped 5.2 percent. Other large-cap stocks that also helped pull down the markets included dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), insurer Bao Viet Holdings (BVH), and Vietcombank (VCB), which fell 2.5 percent, 2 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively. On the other side, PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), and Vietinbank (CTG) lifted the market. They gained 3.8 percent, 3.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. On January 26, Vietnam's central bank cut its reference mid-point rate for exchange trading band by 12 VND to 21,898 VND for a US dollar. Both local markets traded more than 183 million shares worth 2.2 trillion VND (98 million USD), a decrease of 24 percent from previous day’s trading value.-VNA