Short-term challenges, long-term opportunity in Vietnam

Article Excerpt

The Vietnamese stock market, as measured by the FTSE Vietnam 30 Index, has done very well over the longer term, gaining 436% over the 10 years ending December 2021. This was considerably better than most developed and emerging equity markets over that same period. However, since its peak in the first week of 2022, the index has declined by 48% making it one of the worst-performing stock markets in the world. There are likely several reasons for this weak performance. First, the very strong performance of Vietnamese stocks during the peak COVID-19 period pulled a large, short-term focused investor base into the market. However, when the market’s fortunes changed these speculators quickly left. A second reason is the start of an interest rate hike cycle by the Vietnamese central bank to curb rising inflation and to support the currency against the surging U.S. dollar. Better-yielding savings accounts at Vietnamese banks are providing attractive alternatives for investors, pulling them away from the volatile stock market. At the same…