The COVID-19 Outbreak and Risk–Return Spillovers between Main and SME Stock Markets in the MENA Region

This study investigates return and asymmetric volatility spillovers and dynamic correlations between the main and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Egypt for the periods before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Return and volatility spillovers are modelled using a VAR-asymmetric BEKK–GARCH (1,1) model, while a VAR-asymmetric DCC–GARCH (1,1) model is employed to model the dynamic conditional correlations between these markets, which are then used to determine and explore portfolio design and hedging implications. The results show that while bidirectional return spillovers between the main and SME stock markets are limited to Saudi Arabia, shock and volatility spillovers have different characteristics and dynamics in both main–SME market pairs. In addition, the dynamic correlations between the main and SME markets are mostly positive and have notably increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Saudi Arabia, suggesting that adding SME stocks to a main stock portfolio enhances its risk-adjusted return, especially during tranquil market phases. One practical implication of our results is that the development of SME stock markets can indirectly contribute to economic development via the main market channel and provide an avenue for portfolio diversification and risk management.

An Empirical Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic on Asset Market Responses in India

The study investigates the financial market’s response during the period of last nine months starting from the day when first COVID-19 case was confirmed in India. This paper attempts to gauge the impact of rise in COVID-19 confirmed number of cases on stock market as well as commodities market returns. A multi-model approach is used in the current research to assess the relationship between daily number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and movement of asset returns from January 2020 to September 2020. The findings reveal that though financial markets exhibited asymmetric volatility clustering, it could not be traced to COVID-19 pandemic for the period under study in India.

Market Backwardation and The Theory of Storage: An Empirical Investigation of Indian Gold Futures Markets

The backwardation and contango in the futures markets are explained by two popular theories, namely the theory of storage and the theory of risk premium. The investment assets tend to follow the theory of risk premium, whereas the consumption assets are likely to follow the theory of storage. As India is the largest importer of gold, and gold is used for consumption purposes (mostly by jewellers, who store gold as a consumption commodity), we empirically test whether backwardation in the gold market is explained by the theory of storage. We use the indirect test of the theory of storage developed by Fama and French (1988 , Journal of Finance, Vol. 4, p. 1075), calculate the interest adjusted basis (IAB) and test the implications of the theory of storage. We also use two asymmetric models of the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) family to understand the asymmetric volatility of IAB. We find that the Indian gold futures markets partially follow the theory of storage; however, we do not find any support of asymmetric behaviour of IAB in the contango and backwardation markets. Our results suggest that in the context of the Indian gold market, keeping inventory has minimal benefits, and gold behaves more like an investment asset.

Good and bad high-frequency volatility spillovers among developed and emerging stock markets

PurposeThis paper examines dynamic return spillovers and connectedness networks among international stock exchange markets. The authors account for asymmetry by distinguishing between positive and negative returns.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs the spillover index of Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) to measure the volatility spillover index for total, positive and negative volatility.FindingsThe results show time-varying and asymmetric volatility spillovers among the stock markets under investigation. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, bad volatility spillovers are more pronounced and dominated over good volatility spillovers, indicating contagion effects.Originality/valueThe presence of confirmed COVID-19 cases positively (negatively) affects the good and bad spillovers under low and intermediate (upper) quantiles. Both types of spillovers at various quantiles agree also influenced by the number of COVID-19 deaths.