Safe haven, hedge and diversification for African stocks: cryptocurrencies versus gold in time-frequency perspective

The specific properties of assets such as cryptocurrencies, gold, and stocks have welcomed more empirical studies in assessing their nexus. As a result, market conditions, whether good or bad, become imperative to assess the benefits of safe have, hedges or diversification. Also, the presence of uncertainties in markets may have asymmetrical effects which make it necessary to assess their impact over time. The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic as a global uncertainty has altered the dynamics of most financial markets. Consequently, this may influence the lead/lag relationships in most financial time series at various frequencies to contribute to the heterogeneous nature of market participants. Hence, the study examines the interdependencies between cryptocurrencies, selected stocks markets of Africa, and Gold returns in a time-frequency domain before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a day-to-day observations, from August 8th, 2015 to May 5th, 2020, we assess the benefits of portfolio diversification, hedges, and safe haven with the bi-wavelet technique. The findings reveal that gold and cryptocurrencies provide a safe haven, diversification and, hedge for investors of African stock especially in the Ghanaian stock market (short-term) and also during this COVID-19 period. These findings contribute to the literature on financial market interdependencies, asymmetries to demonstrate financial market participants’ diverse investment horizons. Again, policymakers and governments of these stock markets should institute a sound system of controls in regulating stock markets. This will enable the benefits of safe haven, hedges or diversification to be efficiently realized for Gold and Cryptocurrencies during different market conditions.