Motives behind the return anomaly around bonus issue announcements: the case of emerging markets

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the stock return behaviour around the bonus issue announcements in eight emerging markets for 2010–2019 by addressing the signalling, cash substitution and liquidity hypotheses.Design/methodology/approachBesides using the standard event study technique to test the presence of an anomaly, country-based regression analyses are performed. Firm-specific factors are used to understand the motive behind the anomaly observed pre- and post-announcement periods. Also, the Amihud illiquidity measure examines the liquidity hypothesis, while standardized profitability and investment ratios compare the long-run operational performance of bonus issuers to test the validity of signalling.FindingsThe findings provide evidence that abnormal returns can be detected ten days before the announcement in some countries, which is a sign of information leakage. The presence of the effect continues only in two countries after the announcement is released. The size of the bonus issue is found strongly significant in most countries, while a weak relation between abnormal return and other factors is detected. Moreover, the signalling hypothesis does not hold in the sense of long-run profitability increase, while liquidity assertion is partially presented.Research limitations/implicationsDue to an inadequate number of announcements in other emerging markets, the number of sample countries is limited by eight.Originality/valueThe research is novel regarding analyzing a wide range of emerging countries with various variables. Also, the paper is distinguished from other studies by applying multiple set of regressions under nine different event windows.

Does leverage level matter for return anomaly during rights issue announcements? The case of Islamic countries

PurposeThis paper aims to measure investors' perception of the rights issue announcement of publicly listed companies in five stock markets of Islamic countries. Then, these firms are grouped according to their debt level to examine whether abnormal returns are different from those that are highly leveraged. Moreover, Sharīʿah compatibility of firms is checked to understand if return anomaly shows different behaviour around rights issue announcement days.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis period includes the years 2010–2019, which includes 362 rights issue announcements. The event study methodology is applied to measure the level of impact that is triggered by the rights issue announcements. Hereafter, one-way ANOVA test is performed to identify whether there exists a difference among the sample groups according to their debt level.FindingsFindings suggest that rights issue announcements cause −3.90% fall in share prices on average for the whole sample. However, negative abnormal return is found significant only in Egypt and Turkey. Individual regression analysis results suggest that an increase in debt level worsens the return anomaly only in Egypt. This refers that the rights issue announcement is perceived as less favourable for highly leveraged companies compared to others in this country. Finally, Sharīʿah-compliant companies show better performance compared to non-compliant counterparts around the event dates.Originality/valueThis paper is novel in evaluating market reaction during rights issue announcements in multiple Islamic countries. Also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to compare return behaviour of Sharīʿah-compliant and non-compliant firms around the rights issue announcements.

Sell in May and Go Away or Just Another January Effect? Studied of Anomaly in Indonesia Stock Exchange

Sell in May and go away is a phenomenon of return anomaly that starts in May and lasts until October. These months are called the worst months of stocks. Conversely, the months of November to April are often referred to as the best months of the stock where a higher rate of return is achieved throughout the year. Although it has not been proven academically, this phenomenon has been mentioned by various media in Indonesia such as Kontan, CNN Indonesia, and Tempo Business which are predicted to correct the JCI throughout 2017. The purpose of this study is to prove the phenomenon of sell in May and go away on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, and find out whether the average best return of the month is affected by the high return in January. The results prove that even though the average returns increase in November-April was due to the high return in January, but there was no sell in May and go away on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Under these conditions, the direction of the relationship between risk and return is the opposite that directs the Indonesia Stock Exchange to the efficient market hypothesis.