Market Reaction to Delisting Announcements in Frontier Markets: Evidence from the Vietnam Stock Market

This paper aims to measure the effects of delisting on stock returns for the Vietnam stock market. This study employs a sample of 118 stocks that were compulsorily delisted from the market between January 2011 and December 2021. Using an event study methodology, the empirical findings confirm that the delisting has negative effects on stock returns in the Vietnam stock market. Specifically, results derived from tests show that the average abnormal return of delisted stocks continuously declines during three trading days following the announcement of delisting. Moreover, it is found that the differences in cumulative abnormal returns between post-delisting and pre-delisting periods are significantly negative for all tracking periods. Apart from the negative effect of delisting on stock abnormal returns, we also find that the impact of delisting on stock returns for smaller companies is greater than for bigger companies. These results imply that investors can earn abnormal returns by using delisting information in the Vietnam stock market.