Vietnamese stocks bounce back after harrowing week for investors

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index closed up 3.77 percent on Monday after suffering a harrowing previous week when global sell-offs came down hard on Asian stocks.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange ended the day in the green, closing at 1,042 points and recouping $5.3 billion.

The VN-Index fell 9 percent last week after Vietnam became the only Southeast Asian stock market to post double-digit gains this year. The slide caused losses of nearly VND280 trillion ($12.3 billion) to the market.

The final day of trading before Vietnam enters its week-long Tet holiday falls on Tuesday, and investors are hoping the stock market will continue its recovery so that they can wrap up the year in peace.

Vietnam's market has been one of the hardest hit in the region after an overnight plunge on Wall Street triggered a rout in equities worldwide.

The market shed 5 percent to record its steepest fall in nearly two and a half years on February 5, the biggest fall in Southeast Asia.

Asian stocks also tumbled on February 9 after Wall Street shares suffered yet another slide amid worries over rising bond yields, while perceived havens such as the yen and Swiss franc drew demand amid the turmoil, Reuters reported.

Japan’s Nikkei sagged 3 percent, en route for a loss of 8.6 percent last week.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.8 percent.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 4.0 percent and the blue-chip CSI300 ended the day down 4.3 percent. At one point, both were down more than 6 percent, which was the biggest single-day dive for both in two years.

Analysts said the decline is expected to last a few more weeks.