By: Alen I read in the news last week. The worst may not be over for Vietnam’s stock market. Morgan Stanley said Vietnam was heading for a “currency crisis” and Fitch Ratings cut its outlook on the country’s debt rating. The country is experiencing strong inflation and maybe overheating. The once best performing stock index has fallen 55% this year. I remember that when the market was best performing among the region, the market keep going up and the foreign investor money keep pouring in. It was similar with India, when the valuation is no longer cheap, the money inflow keep the market up. If we back track a few years more, we can remember the year 2000 bubble. The higher the market went, the more money people pour in until the tipping point. I think at that time, banks were aggressively pushing technology related unit trust and result in many investors losing money. That might explain the poor reputation of unit trust as an investment approach in the local market. Investor who bought the Vietnam fund might be sitting on loses now. As the over valuation unwind continues, it has more downside to go. That brings an interesting questions: Why did fund house launch fund at the peak of the cycle? Many times, we can see the peak of the market when there are many new fund launch. I remember we had properties fund, infrastructure fund, climate change fund etc etc. Read more...