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The impact of religious practice on stock returns and volatility

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  • Al-Khazali, Osamah
  • Bouri, Elie
  • Roubaud, David
  • Zoubi, Taisier

Abstract

With a psychological and behavioral perspective, this paper examines whether religious practice, through its influence on investors' moods and emotions, affect the behavior of the stock markets and investors in 15 Islamic countries over the period December 31, 2005 to December 31, 2015 and over four sub-periods (before and after both the global financial crisis and the Arab spring). The results indicate that volatility decreases during the month of Ramadan and is significantly different from the volatility observed in the other 11months of the Islamic calendar year in most Muslim countries. We also identify that changes in stock returns and volatility during the month of Ramadan are related to religious practice and not due to the global financial crisis or the Arab spring. The findings significantly improve the understanding of the role of religious practice on stock market behavior and as such may be of great interest to investors and market regulators.

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  • Al-Khazali, Osamah & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Zoubi, Taisier, 2017. "The impact of religious practice on stock returns and volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 172-189.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:52:y:2017:i:c:p:172-189
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2017.04.009
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    Cited by:

    1. Al-Khazali, Osamah & Mirzaei, Ali, 2017. "Stock market anomalies, market efficiency and the adaptive market hypothesis: Evidence from Islamic stock indices," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 190-208.
    2. Halari, Anwar & Helliar, Christine & Power, David M. & Tantisantiwong, Nongnuch, 2019. "Taking advantage of Ramadan and January in Muslim countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 85-96.
    3. Faheem Aslam & Ahmed Imran Hunjra & Tahar Tayachi & Peter Verhoeven & Yasir Tariq Mohmand, 2022. "Calendar Anomalies in Islamic Frontier Markets," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    4. Anastasiou, Dimitris & Ballis, Antonis & Drakos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Constructing a positive sentiment index for COVID-19: Evidence from G20 stock markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Khan, Abdullah & Rizvi, Syed Aun R. & Ali, Mohsin & Haroon, Omair, 2021. "A survey of Islamic finance research – Influences and influencers," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Elnahass, Marwa & Salama, Aly & Yusuf, Noora, 2022. "Earnings management and internal governance mechanisms: The role of religiosity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Hira Irshad & Hasniza Mohd Taib, 2017. "Calendar anomalies: Review of literature," Journal of Advances in Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. Yi-Hsing Hsieh, vol. 3(6), pages 303-310.
    8. Osamah AlKhazali & Hooi Hooi Lean & Taisier Zoubi, 2022. "The Size Anomaly in Islamic Stock Indices: A Stochastic Dominance Approach," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Religious practice; Ramadan effect; Islamic calendar anomaly; Stock return; Stock volatility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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