International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

Frequency: 12

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 Volume 12, Issue 9 (September 2025), Pages: 220-229

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 Original Research Paper

The risk-return relationship in Vietnam’s stock market: A weak connection

 Author(s): 

 Hieu Pham *, Vang Quang Dang, Nhu Ha Thi Tuyet, Quoc Duy Vuong

 Affiliation(s):

 Faculty of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

 Full text

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 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4068-5190

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2025.09.022

 Abstract

Vietnam’s stock market is one of the fastest-growing in Asia, marked by high volatility and a strong presence of retail investors. This study examines the relationship between volatility, commonly viewed as a measure of risk, and expected returns, challenging the traditional belief that higher risk leads to higher returns. The findings show a statistically significant but economically weak connection, suggesting that volatility has a limited influence on returns. The results highlight the unique characteristics of Vietnam’s market, where speculative trading, retail investor behavior, and structural constraints play a larger role than standard risk-return patterns. Instead of aligning with the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), returns are mainly driven by short-term momentum and market sentiment. This study contributes to asset pricing literature by stressing the need for market-specific models in emerging economies and offers insights for investors and policymakers seeking to strengthen market performance and stability.

 © 2025 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

 Stock volatility, Expected returns, Retail investors, Market sentiment, Emerging markets

 Article history

 Received 13 April 2025, Received in revised form 7 August 2025, Accepted 22 August 2025

 Acknowledgment

No Acknowledgment. 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Pham H, Dang VQ, Tuyet NHT, and Vuong QD (2025). The risk-return relationship in Vietnam’s stock market: A weak connection. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 12(9): 220-229

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 Figures

  Fig. 1   Fig. 2    Fig. 3    Fig. 4    Fig. 5    Fig. 6 

 Tables

  Table 1  Table 2  Table 3  Table 4  Table 5

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