The impact of macroeconomic indicators on Vietnamese stock prices

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of macroeconomic indicators (the interest rate and the industrial production) on Vietnamese stock prices. The paper examines how US macroeconomic indicators affect Vietnamese stock prices. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use monthly time series data covering the period from January 2001 to April 2008. The methodology introduced by Nasseh and Strauss and Canova and de Nicolo to investigate the linkage between stock prices and macroeconomic indicators. Findings - This paper provides the first empirical evidence that there are statistically significant associations among the domestic production sector, money markets, and stock prices in VietNam. Another novel finding is that the US macroeconomic fundamentals significantly affect Vietnamese stock prices. Finally, the results show that the influence of the US real sector is stronger than that of the money market. Originality/value - Since prior research has focused on developed economies, the authors strongly believe that this paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature as the authors are the first to examine this issue in Viet Nam.