Corporate Announcements and Market Efficiency: A Case on Indian Capital Market

Capital markets being the backbone of the economy, are expected to be functioning efficiently. Efficiently-priced financial markets are considered a catalyst for the economic growth of the nations (Malkiel, 2010). Efficient markets are the reflection of security valuations. In an informationally efficient market, no one can beat the market and make abnormal returns based on the information because the information is instantaneously observed in the stock prices. The current paper analyses the market efficiency of three of the most popular corporate events, i.e., announcement of cash dividends, bonus issues, and stock split in the Indian context. The sample is 2253 pure cash dividend announcements (627 large-caps, 552 mid-caps, and 1074 small-caps), 152 bonus issue announcements (49 large-caps, 33 mid-caps, and 70 small-caps), and 181 stock split announcements (35 large-caps, 34 mid-caps, and 112 small-caps) were used for this study. Event methodology market model used to calculate Average Abnormal Returns (AAR) and Cumulative Average Abnormal Returns (CAAR). The results of the study have few findings which are contradictory to the existing literature on market efficiency. The cash dividend announcements have shown evidence for market efficiency, and results are contrary to Gupta et al. (2012), but the results are similar to Mishra (2005). Bonus issue announcements also have shown evidence for a semi-strong form of efficiency, test results identical to Dhar and Chhaochharia (2008), Kumar and Mittal (2015). Stock split announcements have not shown market efficiency, and the effect is similar to the study of Lakshmi and Roy (2012) and contrary to Chavali and Zahid (2011). Our results also support the premise that the emerging countries depict evidence of market efficiency (Bechev, 2003). Finally, we conclude that market efficiency results differ based on corporate announcements and market capitalization.

Is User-Generated Twittersphere Activity Associated with Stock Market Reactions to 8-K Filings?

Prior studies have demonstrated that company-generated tweets as a device for the dissemination of corporate announcements help reduce information asymmetry. This paper demonstrates that user-generated tweets around corporate announcements have information content in addition to the information content of the announcement itself. Using a sample of S&P 1500 firms, we test the effects of abnormal levels of user-generated tweets and abnormal sentiment in the tweets over the three days surrounding 8-K filings of unanticipated events on market returns and liquidity of stocks. Results show that abnormal levels of user-generated tweets are positively associated with both the absolute cumulative abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal trading volume. We also find an indication of a cautionary stance by the market when sentiment is negative around the announcements. Our results have economic significance from both the stock valuation and the stock liquidity perspectives.

Investors Perceptions & Corporate Announcements for Mumbai & Hyderabad

Markets and investor perceptions on the movements of the markets, with specific reference to the equity stock prices of Nifty 50 Index, are being investigated through the present paper. Most of the theories assert the assumption of rational investor and behavioral attributes of investors in the process of price prediction. Through the present paper, an inquiry is made on the relationship between the investor perceptions about the importance or impact of various corporate announcements on the equity stock prices through the primary data. Mumbai has been perceived to be the Mecca of stock investors. Hence the sample have been selected from two different locations Mumbai and Hyderabad to compare and comprehend on the investor perceptions