Identifying Islamic alternatives to short selling in Iranian stock market and prioritizing them using TOPSIS

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.

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1028-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sijia Zhang ◽  
Andros Gregoriou

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine stock market reactions and liquidity effects following the first bank loan announcement of zero-leverage firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors use an event studies methodology in both a univariate and multivariate framework. The authors also use regression analysis. Findings Using a sample of 96 zero-leverage firms listed on the FTSE 350 index over the time period of 2000–2015, the authors find evidence of a significant and permanent stock price increase as a result of the initial debt announcement. The loan announcement results in a sustained increase in trading volume and liquidity. This improvement continues to persist once the authors control for stock price and trading volume effects in both the short and long run. Furthermore, the authors examine the spread decomposition around the same period, and discover the adverse selection of the bid–ask spread is significantly related to the initial bank loan announcement. Research limitations/implications The results can be attributed to the information cost/liquidity hypothesis, suggesting that investors demand a lower premium for trading stocks with more available information. Originality/value This is the first paper to look at multiple industries, more than one loan and information asymmetry effects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamdan Amer Al-Jaifi

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether ownership concentration and earnings management affect the stock market liquidity of Malaysian firms. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a sample of 2,020 yearly firm observations in Bursa Malaysia over the period 2009-2012. The ordinary least square regression is used to examine the relationships. The study undertakes a sensitivity test by regressing the main study variables by using different measurements. Another robustness test is then used, where a regression based on the change in variables and a one-year lag of the independent variables are used. Furthermore, to alleviate the concern of possible endogeneity, the simultaneity and reverse causality are checked using the lag of the dependent variable, fixed effect regression, two-stage least squares using the instrumental variables and the generalized method of moments using instrumental variables analysis. Findings The study finds that firms with a high level of ownership concentration have discrepancies in information between informed and uninformed traders, which impair the stock market liquidity. In addition, this study finds that firms with high earnings management experience greater liquidity. A possible explanation for this is that firms might manage earnings to convey private information to enhance the information content of the earnings. Overall, the evidence suggests that manipulating earnings signals information informatively, particularly in a country with a higher level of ownership concentration and a higher likelihood of expropriating minority shareholders. Originality/value This study enriches the limited empirical research devoted to the impact of earnings management and ownership concentration on stock market liquidity especially in the context of emerging economies. The findings of this study are robust to alternative liquidity measurements, to alternative estimation methods, and to endogeneity bias.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-166
Author(s):  
Nadia Loukil ◽  
Ouidad Yousfi ◽  
Raissa Wend-kuuni Yerbanga

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of female members in boards of directors on asymmetric information in the French stock market. Design/methodology/approach The authors use two proxies for asymmetric information: the idiosyncratic volatility and the bid-ask spread. This study is conducted on all listed firms in the SBF 120 index between 2002 and 2012. Findings Results show that gender diversity in boardrooms has a negative effect on the level of private information in stock markets and reduces the bid-ask spread. However, these effects are significant in family-controlled firms: female inside directors significantly increase the idiosyncratic volatility and the bid-ask spread, while female independent directors decrease both proxies for stock market liquidity. Research limitations/implications Our empirical findings contribute to the current debate on the benefits of gender diversity on corporate boards from the market perspective. It shows that, under specific conditions, financial markets could be receptive to the presence of female directors in boardrooms. Practical implications Practitioners and policymakers advocate the benefits of gender diversity on corporate boards. This paper shows that when the protection of minority shareholders is poor, the stock market is receptive to the presence of women independent directors, only in family controlled firms. This is a further argument that could help women to overcome glass-ceiling barriers they usually face to achieve top management positions. Originality/value This paper provides support for the increased attention paid to gender-diverse boards. It addresses the market sensitivity toward the presence of women members in French boardrooms and their positions. This is the first paper, to the best of our knowledge, to address how appointing women to different positions in the boardroom could provide signals to investors in the presence of asymmetric information. French firms are mostly family controlled. Thus, the findings bring valuable information of the impact of board diversity on the stock market considering family and nonfamily firms.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Lux ◽  
Alex Moss

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between liquidity in listed real estate markets, company size and geography during different market cycles, specifically pre-crisis (2002-2006) and post-crisis (2010-2014). Further, the study analyses the impact of stock liquidity on stock performance. In a previous study the authors examined the impact of liquidity on the valuation of European real estate shares. The result showed that there is a strong relationship between liquidity, valuation and market capitalisation post the Global Financial Crisis. Design/methodology/approach – The paper studies the linkages between regional market liquidity and company size for 60 listed real estate companies globally and determines the key drivers of company stock market liquidity pre- and post-crisis as well as the impact on stock performance. Analysis of variance is used to test cross-sectional independence in market liquidity combined with the Tukey’s post hoc test. The selected test indicators of liquidity to capture market depth and market tightness are daily stock turnover as percentage of market capitalisation and daily bid-ask spreads. Findings – Findings confirm previous studies that market liquidity factors are correlated globally over time indicating markets interdependence. However, sample groups by company size and geography form independent samples with different sample means, thus specific liquidity levels in each market may be different. First, stock turnover levels have not recovered post-crisis to pre-crisis levels in the majority of markets while spreads have continued moving downward to nearly insignificant levels in line with the rest of the equity market. Second, with regards to stock performance, the European bias previously detected is not apparent in the USA, and there is no evidence of the small cap vs large cap effect of small companies achieving superior returns, although smaller companies have outperformed in Europe and Asia in each of the last three years (2012-2014). Practical implications – The key implication is that although spread levels for smaller companies are higher, implying a slight risk premium when investing in small companies, this did not manifest into consistent superior stock market returns in the periods studied. In a mature market such as the USA or UK, liquidity levels in terms of stock turnover are higher and spreads are lower thus reducing trading costs, making them more attractive for investors. Originality/value – This research brings together previous analysis on stock market liquidity and stock performance on a global market level. It further tests the dependence of market liquidity on two key indicators, namely, geography and company size and analyses market changes with respect to liquidity pre- and post-crisis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-287
Author(s):  
Yeongseop Rhee ◽  
Sang Buhm Hahn

This paper examines short-selling activity focusing on its behavior during non-normal times of occasional excesses in the Korean stock market. Using the methodology explained by Brunnermeier and Pederson (2005) and Shkilko et al. (2009; 2012), we first examine whether short-selling is predatory on those event days of large price reversals. Overall there is little predatory abnormal short-selling in the pre-rebound phase and we can observe active contrarian short-selling in the post-rebound phase. When we compared aggressiveness between short-selling and non-short-selling using order imbalance variables, we found that non-short selling is much more aggressive than short selling in the Korean stock market. From the observation of market liquidity measured by quoted spreads, we could find that market liquidity is somewhat limited during price decline stages while it slightly improves during price reversal phases. Also, using dynamic panel model, we test the influences of those variables on stock price changes and disaggregate the compound effect of short-selling reflected in trading volume itself into differentiated ones not only through pure trading channel but also through other complicated channels such as market sentiment change. Main findings from the regression results are as follows : In the Korean stock market, short sellers seem to behave as a contrarian trader rather than a momentum trader; seller-initiated aggressive trading, whether it is by short-selling or non-short-selling, leads to negative order imbalance and price decline; market liquidity is limited by short-selling and further pressure on price decline is added in the pre-rebound stage; and stock prices are affected not only through pure selling (buying) channel but also through other channels in the Korean stock market.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas Alaoui Mdaghri ◽  
Abdessamad Raghibi ◽  
Cuong Nguyen Thanh ◽  
Lahsen Oubdi

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on stock market liquidity, while taking into account the depth and tightness dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThe author used a panel data regression on stock market dataset, representing 314 listed firms operating in six Middle East and North African (MENA) countries from February to May 2020.FindingsThe regression results on the overall sample indicate that the liquidity related to the depth measure was positively correlated with the growth in the confirmed number of cases and deaths and stringency index. Moreover, the market depth was positively related to the confirmed cases of COVID-19. The results also indicate that the liquidity of small cap and big cap firms was significantly impacted by the confirmed number of cases, while the stringency index is only significant for the liquidity depth measure. Moreover, the results regarding sectors and country level analysis confirmed that COVID-19 had a significant and negative impact of stock market liquidity.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper confirms that the global coronavirus pandemic has decreased the stock market liquidity in terms of both the depth and the tightness dimensions.Originality/valueWhile most empirical papers focused on the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on stock market returns, this paper investigated liquidity chock at firm level in the MENA region using both tightness and depth dimensions.


Author(s):  
Ryanda Al Fathan ◽  
Tika Arundina

Purpose There are many studies related to finance-growth nexus, but existing empirical evidences still have not provided conclusive result of the nature and direction of this relationship. Moreover, there are only few studies about finance-growth nexus seen from Islamic finance perspective, especially in Indonesia. Therefore, this study aims to examine the nature of causal relationship between Islamic finance development and economic growth in Indonesia seen from the development of Islamic banking, sukuk market and Islamic stock market. Design/methodology/approach By using quarterly data from 2002Q3 to 2017Q4, this study uses vector autoregressive (VAR) model, then uses granger causality and impulse response function to analyze the causal relationship between Islamic finance development and economic growth and also among three main sub-sectors of Islamic finance. Findings This study found that Islamic banking development and Islamic stock market development support neutrality hypotheses view, while sukuk market development supports supply-leading hypotheses view. Moreover, this study also found that there are unidirectional causalities from sukuk market development to Islamic banking development and from sukuk market development to Islamic stock market development. Research limitations/implications This study focuses only on the development of Islamic finance viewed from a macro perspective and only looks at how the three main sub-sectors in Islamic finance develop. In addition, the results of research related to finance-growth nexus are also sensitive to the object of research, the method and the proxies of variables used. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no study that examines the causal relationship between Islamic finance development and economic growth in Indonesia based on its three main sub-sectors simultaneously. So, this study gives empirical evidence to contribute on finance-growth nexus discussion based on three main sub-sectors of Islamic finance development in Indonesia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Byomakesh Debata ◽  
Jitendra Mahakud

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and stock market liquidity in an order-driven emerging stock market. Design/methodology/approach Empirical estimates are based on vector autoregressive Granger-causality tests, impulse response functions and variance decomposition analysis. Findings The empirical findings suggest that economic policy uncertainty moderately influences stock market liquidity during normal market conditions. However, the role of economic policy uncertainty for determining stock market liquidity is significant in times of financial crises. The authors have also observed a significant portion of variation in stock market liquidity that is attributed to investor sentiments during financial crises. Originality/value This study is original in nature and provides evidence to consider economic policy uncertainty as a possible source of commonality in liquidity in the context of an emerging market.


Author(s):  
Mahmoud Bekri ◽  
Young Shin (Aaron) Kim ◽  
Svetlozar (Zari) T. Rachev

Purpose – In Islamic finance (IF), the safety-first rule of investing (hifdh al mal) is held to be of utmost importance. In view of the instability in the global financial markets, the IF portfolio manager (mudharib) is committed, according to Sharia, to make use of advanced models and reliable tools. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the limitations of the standard models used in the IF industry are reviewed. Then, a framework was set forth for a reliable modeling of the IF markets, especially in extreme events and highly volatile periods. Based on the empirical evidence, the framework offers an improved tool to ameliorate the evaluation of Islamic stock market risk exposure and to reduce the costs of Islamic risk management. Findings – Based on the empirical evidence, the framework offers an improved tool to ameliorate the evaluation of Islamic stock market risk exposure and to reduce the costs of Islamic risk management. Originality/value – In IF, the portfolio manager – mudharib – according to Sharia, should ensure the adequacy of the mathematical and statistical tools used to model and control portfolio risk. This task became more complicated because of the increase in risk, as measured via market volatility, during the financial crisis that began in the summer of 2007. Sharia condemns the portfolio manager who demonstrates negligence and may hold him accountable for losses for failing to select the proper analytical tools. As Sharia guidelines hold the safety-first principle of investing rule (hifdh al mal) to be of utmost importance, the portfolio manager should avoid speculative investments and strategies that would lead to significant losses during periods of high market volatility.


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