Hanoi (VNA)🍷 - Vietnamese shares rebounded on January 22, led by energy stocks as global oil prices recovered from twelve-year lows.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched up 0.1 percent to close at 522.24 points. The southern index had declined by 7.5 percent over the previous seven sessions. The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange gained 1.1 percent to finish at 73.85 points. The northern index had fallen 4.7 percent during the previous six days. The energy sector index jumped 3.1 percent as global crude prices made big gains to rebound from twelve-year lows touched on January 20. US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumped 4 percent to trade at 30.72 USD a barrel and London-traded Brent crude surged 5.2 percent to trade at 30.77 USD a barrel. WTI crude price had fallen over 28 percent since the end of last year to hit a twelve-year low of 26.55 USD a barrel and Brent crude had dropped a quarter to 27.88 USD a barrel. Local energy stocks that made gains included PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (GAS), which surged 6.7 percent, PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PVD), which gained 6.6 percent, and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), which rallied 6.4 percent. The brokerage sector also helped raise the markets as leading brokerage firms such as Saigon Securities Incorporate (SSI), HCM Securities Corporation (HCM) and VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND) reported profits in 2015. These stocks gained 3.2 percent, 2.3 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively. On the opposite side, large-cap stocks such as dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM), food and beverage producer Masan Group (MSN), Vietinbank (CTG), and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) extended losses. These stocks lost 1.7 percent, 0.7 percent, 1.8 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. Vietnam's central bank on January 22 lowered the reference mid-point rate for its exchange rate trading band by 2 VND to 21,908 VND for a US dollar, which allows banks to decide the dollar exchange rate with a margin of three percent on either side of the reference rate. Both local markets traded more than 217 million shares worth 2.46 trillion VND (112 million USD), nearly equal to last year's daily trading value of 111 million USD and an increase of 6.5 percent from the previous day's trading value.-VNA