Research on the Time-Frequency Spillover Effect of High-Frequency Stock Price and Economic Policy Uncertainty

Through the construction of wavelet coherence analysis and frequency-domain spillover framework, this paper makes a comparative study of the volatility spillover effects of international economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on China’s Shanghai and Hong Kong stock market from a time-frequency perspective. To fully reflect the international EPU, this paper selects China, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom and uses the monthly EPU index of these countries and regions. China chooses China’s EPU index and Hong Kong’s EPU index. At the same time, the 5-minute high-frequency volatility of the Shanghai Composite Index (SSEC) and the Hang Seng Index (HSI) is selected to represent the Shanghai and Hong Kong’s stock market, respectively. It is found that there are obvious differences between the EPU and the dependence of the stock market in time domain and frequency domain, and the lead-lag relationship between them has time-varying characteristics. Static and dynamic spillover effects play a dominant role in the analysis of medium- and long-term spillover effects. In particular, the EPU and the risk spillover of the Hong Kong stock market are stronger than those of the Shanghai stock market, and the dynamic frequency-domain net risk spillover between them has frequency characteristics, and there are two-way and asymmetric risk spillovers. This provides a certain reference for policy makers to improve the safety management of financial markets and for market investors to optimize their portfolios.

Loss sensitive investors and positively biased analysts in Hong Kong stock market

The Hong Kong stock market is known to be highly volatile. Professional investors have a strong demand for timely information because of the infrequent nature of Hong Kong analysts’ interim reports (Cheng et al., 2003). Our paper provides a comprehensive study of investor reactions to analysts’ recommendations in the Hong Kong stock market from 2009 to 2014 under different sentiment scenarios. We find that analysts’ recommendation upgrades and downgrades deliver significant information to the Hong Kong stock market. However, analysts’ initiation coverages convey little information and bring about limited impact to the stock market. In addition, analysts’ upgrades and downgrades result in significant differential price impacts in bullish and the bearish phases.

Does switching trading venues create value? Evidence from Hong Kong

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study whether switching trading venues create value in the Hong Kong stock market.Design/methodology/approachBy using an event study, the paper investigates the abnormal returns (AR) earned by firms in the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) relating to switching to the Main Board (MB). Two measures, turnover of the stock and Amihud’s (2002) illiquidity ratio, are used to examine the liquidity effects.FindingsThe switch is accompanied by a long-term increase in stock price for low liquidity firms only. High liquidity firms underperform with persistent negative excess returns after switching, while the transient negative excess returns in low liquidity firms reverse gradually. The results further show a significant increase in trading activity for low liquidity firms following the switch, while there is a significant decline in both trading activity and liquidity in firms with high liquidity. The overall results suggest that moving from GEM to the MB is beneficial to low liquidity firms but detrimental to high liquidity firms.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate whether moving from GEM to the MB creates value in the Hong Kong stock market.

The Three Musketeers Relationships between Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen Before and After Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect

This study examines the sustainability of financial integration between China (represented by Shenzhen and Shanghai) stock markets and Hong Kong stock market over the period of pre and post launch of the Stock Connect Scheme. This paper aims to fill the gap in the financial literature by providing empirical research on the dynamics of the financial integration process, and examining the sustainability of financial integration among the three Chinese stock markets. We apply cointegration and both linear and nonlinear causalities to investigate whether the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect has any impact on both market capitalizations and market indices of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen markets. Through cointegration tests and linear Granger causality techniques, it was found that the stock markets from mainland China are increasingly influencing the Hong Kong stock market after the introduction of the Stock Connect Scheme; however, when using nonlinear Granger causality analysis for confirming China market dominance, the result shows an reverse relationship whereby the Hong Kong stock market is still relevant to understand and predict China stock market after the introduction of the Stock Connect Scheme. Overall, our findings support the view that the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect has a significant impact on both market capitalizations and market indices of the Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen markets, but Hong Kong stock market is still relevant to understand and predict China stock market after the introduction of the Stock Connect Scheme. The change in share premium difference between mainland China’s domestic A-share markets and Hong Kong’s H-share market could change investors’ appetites or sentiments. Further research includes examining whether there is any functional relationship including nonlinear relationship and studying the dynamic drivers of the relationships.