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Liquidity And The Informational Efficiency Of African Stock Markets

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  • Graham Smith

Abstract

The hypothesis that a stock market price index follows a random walk is tested for 11 African stock markets, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe using joint variance ratio tests with finite‐sample critical values, over the period beginning in January 2000 and ending in September 2006. The iid random walk hypothesis is rejected in all 11 markets. In four stock markets, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa, weekly returns are a martingale difference sequence. Liquidity is an important factor which contributes to whether a stock market follows a random walk.

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  • Graham Smith, 2008. "Liquidity And The Informational Efficiency Of African Stock Markets," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 76(2), pages 161-175, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:sajeco:v:76:y:2008:i:2:p:161-175
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1813-6982.2008.00171.x
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    15. Keith Jefferis & Graham Smith, 2005. "The Changing Efficiency Of African Stock Markets," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 73(1), pages 54-67, March.
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    2. Mensah, Justice T. & Pomaa-Berko, Maame & Adom, Philip Kofi, 2012. "Does Automation Improve Stock Market Efficiency? Evidence from Ghana," MPRA Paper 43642, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Graham Smith & Aneta Dyakova, 2014. "African Stock Markets: Efficiency and Relative Predictability," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(2), pages 258-275, June.
    4. Olwetu Fusthane & Kapingura F M, 2017. "Weak Form Market Efficiency of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange: Pre, During and Post the 2008 Global Financial Crisis," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 9(5), pages 29-42.
    5. Nicholas Addai Boamah, 2021. "Integration, investor protection rules and global informational inefficiency of emerging financial markets," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(6), pages 1-22, June.
    6. Adam Karp & Gary Van Vuuren, 2019. "Investment Implications Of The Fractal Market Hypothesis," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(01), pages 1-27, March.
    7. Amira Akl Ahmed, 2014. "Evolving and relative efficiency of MENA stock markets: evidence from rolling joint variance ratio tests," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(1), pages 91-126, May.
    8. Kelikume, Ikechukwu & Evans, Olaniyi & Iyoha, Faith, 2020. "Efficient Market Hypothesis in the Presence of Market Imperfections: Evidence from Selected Stock Markets in Africa," MPRA Paper 118200, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Gyamfi NE & Kyei KA & Gill R, 2016. "African Stock Markets and Return Predictability," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 8(5), pages 91-99.
    10. Saint Kuttu & Godfred A. Bokpin, 2017. "Feedback Trading and Autocorrelation Patterns in Sub-Saharan African Equity Markets," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 213-225, January.
    11. Adeabah, David & Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2023. "How far have we come and where should we go after 30+ years of research on Africa's emerging financial markets? A systematic review and a bibliometric network analysis," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    12. Ferreira, Paulo & Dionísio, Andreia & Correia, José, 2018. "Non-linear dependencies in African stock markets: Was subprime crisis an important factor?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 505(C), pages 680-687.

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