Portfolio diversification has long been in spotlight, however, the growing integration among stock markets lowers the diversification opportunities. This paper examines the integration of Vietnamese stock market with markets of ASEAN countries as well with the leading global markets such as US, UK, Japan and China. The investigation has taken place over two periods: long-term period 2007-2017 (normal period); and short-term period 2007-2008 (crisis period). The study employs unit root test, Engel and Granger co-integration, and Granger causality in order to test whether Vietnamese stock market has co-integration with stock markets of US, UK, China, Japan and other ASEAN countries. The results reveal that there is no relationship between Vietnam stock market and other stock markets in short-term period. However, in the long-term period, Vietnamese stock market is found to have positive relationship with the Chinese stock market. The result is not unexpected keeping in view the fact that Vietnam and China have close relationships in multiple fields including but not limited to geography, trading, history, and politics. Moreover, Granger causality test results reveal that Vietnam has mono-directional causal relationships with stock markets of US, Japan and Indonesia in short as well as long term.
Keywords: Diversification, Granger Causality, Long-Run Relationship, Stock Market Integration
