Regulatory overkill? Short-sales ban in Korea

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-699
Author(s):  
Jaemin Kim ◽  
Joon-Seok Kim ◽  
Sean Sehyun Yoo

Purpose The authors investigate the 2008-2009 short-sales ban in Korea, one of the most comprehensive and restrictive short-selling bans worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to examine: whether the ban stopped a destabilizing effect, if there was any, of short-selling activities; whether the ban improved or deteriorated the informational efficiency or the price discovery process of the stock market; and whether the ban had any impact on market liquidity. Design/methodology/approach Multiple regression; vector autoregression analysis; and generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity analysis. Findings The authors find no evidence that short-sales have a market-destabilizing effect and thus, restricting short-selling has a market-stabilizing effect. On the contrary, the short-selling ban is associated with an increase in return volatility and a deterioration of the price discovery process, particularly for the stocks without derivatives traded on them. The authors also find evidence of a liquidity decrease for short-sale intensive stocks. However, the evidence is inconclusive as to whether the market efficiency and liquidity changes are solely the result of the short-sales ban or the compound effects of both the ban and the concurrent progress of the financial crisis. Originality/value The literature does not provide a conclusive view on the effects of short-sales or restrictions thereof on the stock market. Also, the existing research on recent worldwide shorting bans often lack empirical scope (e.g. 32 stocks for UK; three weeks for USA). In contrast, the short-sales ban in the Korean stock market, one of the most comprehensive and restrictive short-selling bans worldwide, lasted for eight months for all the listed stocks and is still in effect for financial stocks. The authors find no evidence that short-sales have a market-destabilizing effect and thus, restricting short-selling has a market-stabilizing effect.

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 510-532
Author(s):  
Maria Chiara Amadori ◽  
Lamia Bekkour ◽  
Thorsten Lehnert

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate informational efficiency of stock, options and credit default swap (CDS) markets. Previous research suggests that informed traders prefer equity option and CDS markets over stock markets to exploit their informational advantage. As a result, equity and credit derivative markets contribute more to price discovery compared to stock markets. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the authors investigate the dynamics behind informed investors’ trading decisions in European stock, options and CDS markets. This allows to identify the predictive explanatory power of the unique information contained in each market with respect to future stock, CDS and option market movements. Findings – A lead-lag relation is found between the CDS market and the other markets, in which changes in CDS spreads are able to consistently forecast changes in stock prices and equity options’ implied volatilities, indicating how the fast-growing CDS market seems to play a special role in the price discovery process. Moreover, in contrast to results of US studies, the stock market is found to forecast changes in the other two markets, suggesting that investors also prefer stock market involvement to exploit their information advantages before moving to CDS and option markets. Interestingly, these patterns have only emerged during the recent financial crisis, while before the crisis, the option market was found to be of major importance in the price discovery process. Originality/value – The authors are the first to study the lead-lag relationship among European stock, option and CDS markets for a large sample period covering the financial crisis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maysam Ahmadvand ◽  
Hadi Khajezadeh Dezfuli ◽  
Mohamad Javad Sadehvand

Purpose – This paper aims to first explain short selling and its benefits and damages; then, using experts’ opinions and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method as well as based on the legal, financial and jurisprudential criteria adopted, evaluate and prioritize Islamic alternatives to short selling; and finally, introduce the most proper approach for implementing it in Iran’s stock market. Design/methodology/approach – The methods applied in the paper are as follows: Library method to collect the required data for developing the theoretical and jurisprudential foundations of the study, identifying the appropriate criteria for prioritizing; the alternative methods for short selling in the Islamic markets; and the field method to determine the level of significance of the ranking criteria and prioritize the alternative methods for short selling in the Islamic markets on the basis of such criteria. The alternative methods for short selling in Iranian stock market were identified and analyzed jurisprudentially and legally. Afterwards, these strategies were prioritized based on the (legislative, financial and jurisprudential) criteria which were adopted in the form of Delphi from the related literature, research and expert opinions by means of TOPSIS approach. The method with the highest ranking will be introduced as the alternative method for short selling. Findings – The paper suggests that among all Islamic alternatives to short selling, based on experts’ opinions and legal considerations, method of combining Murabaha and Wa’ad is the most proper strategy in Iranian stock market. Research limitations/implications – An important limitation we faced in this study was limited familiarity of Iran, capital market participants with Islamic finance concepts including Islamic alternatives to short selling. Therefore, designed questionnaire was sent only to participants who had experience in the field of Islamic finance that they were not more than 31 people. Of course, in this study, large sample size was not necessary because the questionnaire was completed by experts, and therefore, results were scientific and reliable. Originality/value – One of the transaction strategies which significantly contributes to the enhancement of market liquidity is short selling. However, this strategy is not applicable to the Islamic stock markets because of its contradictions with a number of Islamic laws. Therefore, Islamic financial researchers have attempted to design relevant legal mechanisms drawing on the Islamic contracts to make use of the merits of this transaction strategy. In addition to introducing short selling and its demerits for the stock market, the paper explored the alternative methods and proposed the most proper one for implementing in Iranian stock market.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fidelio Tata

Purpose Traditionally, full-service broker/dealers catering to institutional investors have bundled trade execution with investment research. Since 2018, new market regulation has forced broker/dealers to unbundle and to sell research separately. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the expected pricing of research. Design/methodology/approach A stylized model is presented in this study in which a monopolist fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) research provider faces a linear demand function and picks an appropriate price schedule. Findings It is shown that it is important to initiate the price discovery process using a low price and that some broker/dealers will not be able to identify a regulatory compliant price/quantity solution because their research-production fixed cost is very high compared to the research demand function they face. Practical implications There are three main findings from our model: pricing research at cost is not always possible; if there is a unique solution, an iterative approach only works when starting off with a low-enough initial price; and if there are two solutions, only the low-cost/high-volume solution can be discovered in an iterative process. Originality/value The results presented are important to broker/dealers about to discover the market demand for their FICC research publications on the back of the implementation of MiFID II. Having distributed FICC research for free in the past, they have no knowledge about the demand function (other than what is demanded at a price of zero). Because research publications are highly differentiated products, observing the pricing of competitors is insufficient. Iteratively gaining knowledge about the demand function using price adjustments and customer questionnaires becomes the most likely mean for discovering the demand function. It is important to initiate the price discovery process with a low price. Some broker/dealers will not be able to identify a regulatory compliant price/quantity solution because their research-production fixed cost is too high compared to the research demand function they face. Finally, it is shown that these broker/dealers with two possible equilibriums face difficulty in identifying the high-price/low-volume research equilibrium because of the non-converging nature of the iterative process.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. V. Bhanu Murthy ◽  
Varun Bhandari ◽  
And Vishal Pandey

A paradigm shift has taken place in the conceptual framework of Corporate Responsibility which has led to the emergence of a holistic approach towards Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Accountability. We expect that social responsibility has a distinct and positive effect on the security prices in the stock market. This paper aims at studying the broad trends in the market in terms of ESG, as proxy of socially responsible companies, and NIFTY, as the proxy of general companies, to identify the breaks, if any, and to examine the price discovery process in both the indices, in terms of growth rate. We have identified three periods i.e. pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis period. We conclude that the growth rate and return is more in ESG index than NIFTY index. Hence, social responsible companies are performing better than general companies both in terms of price discovery and returns, for the whole period. After the crisis the investors had become sensitised to social responsibility and had begun to absorb and internalise the behaviour of socially responsible companies in the price discovery process.


2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekkehart Boehmer ◽  
Juan (Julie) Wu

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Ma ◽  
Hamish D. Anderson ◽  
Ben R. Marshall

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on liquidity in international stock markets, highlights differences and similarities in empirical results across existing studies, and identifies areas requiring further research. Design/methodology/approach – International cross-country studies on stock market liquidity are categorized and reviewed. Important relevant single-country studies are also discussed. Findings – Market liquidity is influenced by exchange characteristics (e.g. the presence of market makers) and regulations (e.g. short-sales constraints). The literature has identified the most appropriate liquidity measures for global research, and for emerging and frontier markets, respectively. Major empirical facts are as follows. Liquidity co-varies within and across countries. Both the liquidity level and liquidity uncertainty are priced internationally. Liquidity is positively associated with firm transparency and share issuance, and negatively related to dividends paid out. The impact of internationalization on liquidity is not universal across firms and countries. Some suggested areas for future studies include: dark pools, high-frequency trading, commonality in liquidity premium, funding liquidity, liquidity and capital structure, and liquidity and transparency. Research limitations/implications – The paper focusses on international stock markets and does not consider liquidity in international bond or foreign exchange markets. Originality/value – This paper provides a comprehensive survey of empirical studies on liquidity in international developed and emerging stock markets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charilaos Mertzanis

Purpose The relationship between short selling, market volatility and liquidity remains an object of intensive research. However, empirical evidence is yet to provide a conclusive elucidation of this relationship by examining aspects of market fragmentation in the form of different market settings, different timing and different stocks under coverage, among others. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by investigating the impact of short selling on market volatility and liquidity in the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) under three different periods of short sales restrictions. Design/methodology/approach Two hypotheses are tested using econometric methodologies (co-integration and Granger-causality tools). Findings The empirical results indicate that when short selling is allowed, aggregate stock returns are in the short-term more volatile, but the liquidity of the market is not significantly affected. This might be the result of significant imbalances between supply and demand of stock caused by short-selling restrictions, leading to market price fluctuations. Research limitations/implications The analysis of empirical evidence needs further expansion and association with institutional firm-level and country-level elements to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of short selling on market volatility and liquidity. Practical implications Stock market regulation involving short-selling restrictions have different implications according to extent and degree of stringency of the restrictions as well as the market on which they are imposed. That is especially important for the assessment of the market impact of the recent European Union regulation on short selling that has been imposed upon all EU member-States alike. Social implications Financial regulation policy must balance the benefits and costs for retail investors of imposing short-selling restrictions on stock market trading. Originality/value First-time empirical evidence is provided on the impact of short selling regulations on market volatility and liquidity of ATHEX highlighting the potential effectiveness of regulation policy.


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