Stock price reaction to earnings announcements: a comparative test of market efficiency between NSE securities exchange and JSE securities exchange
Date
2013-08-22
Authors
Rono, Hilda Chepchumba
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Abstract
This study examined stock market reaction to annual earnings announcements using the most
recent data from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (Kenya) and JSE Securities exchange
(South Africa). The period of study is 1 January 2005, to 31 December, 2011. Using the event
study methodology, the magnitude of market reaction to the earnings announcements for a
sample of 261 listed firms on NSE and JSE is tested. Abnormal returns (ARs) were computed
for each firm and tested how announcements impact a firms’ share price. The results show
positive and significant returns on the announcement month for JSE, whereas the returns for
NSE are negative and significant on the second month after announcement. In our study, JSE
and NSE observed mean CAR of (+1.64%) and (-1.8606) respectively, suggesting that
earnings contain important information for the market. We find that there is no post earnings
announcement drift observed over the next six months after the announcement. The results
are consistent with the efficient market hypothesis, thus suggesting that the Johannesburg
securities exchange and Nairobi securities exchange are informationally efficient to earnings
announcements by the sample of listed firms. Furthermore, our results show NSE firms
performed better than JSE firms during the economic boom and meltdown, whereas JSE
firms observed a good performance during the economic recession compared to NSE firms.
Description
Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013.
Keywords
Stocks, Prices, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya, South Africa