IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v26y2014icp98-122.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short-sales constraints and liquidity change: Cross-sectional evidence from the Hong Kong Market

Author

Listed:
  • Bai, Min
  • Qin, Yafeng

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of short-sales constraints on liquidity for individual stocks in Hong Kong, as the Hong Kong Stock Market has a special feature such that, at each point of time, only a subset of stocks are allowed to be sold short, with the list of these stocks changing over time. We find that the impact is heterogeneous across stocks: Following the repealing of short-sales constraints, only large, illiquid and inactively traded firms increase in liquidity; while others significantly drop in prices and liquidity. Following the imposing of short-sales constraints, only inactively traded stocks significantly increase in liquidity and prices. The heterogeneous liquidity change also affects the relation between stock overvaluation and one of its necessary conditions — dispersion of investor opinions. When stocks are allowed to be sold short, such a relation is stronger for firms with deteriorating liquidity. When stocks are prohibited from being sold short, this relation disappears among firms with deteriorating liquidity.

Suggested Citation

  • Bai, Min & Qin, Yafeng, 2014. "Short-sales constraints and liquidity change: Cross-sectional evidence from the Hong Kong Market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 98-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:26:y:2014:i:c:p:98-122
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.11.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X13000802
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2013.11.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shalen, Catherine T, 1993. "Volume, Volatility, and the Dispersion of Beliefs," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(2), pages 405-434.
    2. Joon Chae, 2005. "Trading Volume, Information Asymmetry, and Timing Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 413-442, February.
    3. Acharya, Viral V. & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2005. "Asset pricing with liquidity risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 375-410, August.
    4. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    5. Pastor, Lubos & Stambaugh, Robert F., 2003. "Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 642-685, June.
    6. Allen F. & Morris S. & Postlewaite A., 1993. "Finite Bubbles with Short Sale Constraints and Asymmetric Information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 206-229, December.
    7. Jiang Wang, 1993. "A Model of Intertemporal Asset Prices Under Asymmetric Information," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(2), pages 249-282.
    8. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    9. Alessandro Beber & Marco Pagano, 2013. "Short-Selling Bans Around the World: Evidence from the 2007–09 Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(1), pages 343-381, February.
    10. Lauren Cohen & Karl B. Diether & Christopher J. Malloy, 2007. "Supply and Demand Shifts in the Shorting Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2061-2096, October.
    11. Sadka, Ronnie, 2006. "Momentum and post-earnings-announcement drift anomalies: The role of liquidity risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 309-349, May.
    12. Bessembinder, Hendrik, 2000. "Tick Size, Spreads, and Liquidity: An Analysis of Nasdaq Securities Trading near Ten Dollars," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 213-239, July.
    13. Eric C. Chang & Joseph W. Cheng & Yinghui Yu, 2007. "Short‐Sales Constraints and Price Discovery: Evidence from the Hong Kong Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2097-2121, October.
    14. Ajinkya, Bipin B. & Jain, Prem C., 1989. "The behavior of daily stock market trading volume," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 331-359, November.
    15. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    16. Charles M. Jones, 2012. "Shorting Restrictions: Revisiting the 1930s," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 1-35, February.
    17. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M. Jones & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2008. "Which Shorts Are Informed?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 491-527, April.
    18. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1987. "Constraints on short-selling and asset price adjustment to private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 277-311, June.
    19. David Easley & Maureen O'hara, 2004. "Information and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1553-1583, August.
    20. Korajczyk, Robert A. & Sadka, Ronnie, 2008. "Pricing the commonality across alternative measures of liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 45-72, January.
    21. Adam C. Kolasinski & Adam Reed & Jacob R. Thornock, 2013. "Can Short Restrictions Actually Increase Informed Short Selling?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(1), pages 155-181, March.
    22. Jarrow, Robert A, 1980. "Heterogeneous Expectations, Restrictions on Short Sales, and Equilibrium Asset Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(5), pages 1105-1113, December.
    23. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    24. Jose A. Scheinkman & Wei Xiong, 2003. "Overconfidence and Speculative Bubbles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(6), pages 1183-1219, December.
    25. Figlewski, Stephen, 1981. "The Informational Effects of Restrictions on Short Sales: Some Empirical Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 463-476, November.
    26. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1993. "Differences of Opinion Make a Horse Race," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(3), pages 473-506.
    27. Dechow, Patricia M. & Hutton, Amy P. & Meulbroek, Lisa & Sloan, Richard G., 2001. "Short-sellers, fundamental analysis, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 77-106, July.
    28. J. Michael Harrison & David M. Kreps, 1978. "Speculative Investor Behavior in a Stock Market with Heterogeneous Expectations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(2), pages 323-336.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiang, Haiyan & Chen, Jun, 2019. "Short selling and financial reporting quality: Evidence from Chinese AH shares," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 118-130.
    2. Jinghan Cai & Chiu Yu Ko & Yuming Li & Le Xia, 2019. "Hide and Seek: Uninformed Traders and the Short-sales Constraints," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 20(1), pages 319-356, May.
    3. Bai, Min & Qin, Yafeng, 2015. "Short sales constraints and price adjustments to earnings announcements: Evidence from the Hong Kong market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 304-315.
    4. Zhang, Yan & Ikeda, Shin S., 2016. "A dynamic panel analysis of HKEx shorting ban’s impact on the relationship between disagreement and future returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 10-16.
    5. Haiyan Jiang & Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2022. "Short Selling: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Future Research," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 1-31, January.
    6. Petchey, James & Wee, Marvin & Yang, Joey, 2016. "Pinning down an effective measure for probability of informed trading," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 456-475.
    7. Wan, Xiaoyuan, 2020. "The impact of short-selling and margin-buying on liquidity: Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 104-118.
    8. Bai, Min & Li, Xiao-Ming & Qin, Yafeng, 2017. "Shortability and asset pricing model: Evidence from the Hong Kong stock market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 15-29.
    9. Min Bai, 2021. "Are firm characteristics priced differently between opposite short‐sales regimes?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 95-118, April.
    10. Benson, Karen & Faff, Robert & Smith, Tom, 2015. "Injecting liquidity into liquidity research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PB), pages 533-540.
    11. Kim, Dongcheol & Lee, Inro & Na, Haejung, 2019. "Financial distress, short sale constraints, and mispricing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 94-111.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shyu, Yih-Wen & Chan, Kam C. & Liang, Hsin-Yu, 2018. "Spillovers of price efficiency and informed trading from short sales to margin purchases in absence of uptick rule," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-183.
    2. Lin, Zih-Ying & Chang, Chuang-Chang & Wang, Yaw-Huei, 2018. "The impacts of asymmetric information and short sales on the illiquidity risk premium in the stock option market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 152-165.
    3. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Martin Oehmke, 2014. "Predatory Short Selling," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2153-2195.
    4. Pavlidis, Efthymios G. & Vasilopoulos, Kostas, 2020. "Speculative bubbles in segmented markets: Evidence from Chinese cross-listed stocks," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    5. Nezafat, Mahdi & Schroder, Mark & Wang, Qinghai, 2017. "Short-sale constraints, information acquisition, and asset prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 273-312.
    6. Stephen L. Lenkey, 2021. "Informed Trading with a Short-Sale Prohibition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1803-1824, March.
    7. Autore, Don M. & Billingsley, Randall S. & Kovacs, Tunde, 2011. "The 2008 short sale ban: Liquidity, dispersion of opinion, and the cross-section of returns of US financial stocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2252-2266, September.
    8. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Jiang, 2013. "Market Liquidity—Theory and Empirical Evidence ," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1289-1361, Elsevier.
    9. Chuang, Wen-I & Lee, Hsiu-Chuan, 2010. "The Impact of Short-Sales Constraints on Liquidity and the Liquidity-Return Relations," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 521-535, November.
    10. Alves, Carlos & Mendes, Victor & Silva, Paulo Pereira da, 2016. "Analysis of market quality before and during short-selling bans," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 252-268.
    11. Nishiotis, George P. & Rompolis, Leonidas S., 2019. "Put-call parity violations and return predictability: Evidence from the 2008 short sale ban," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 276-297.
    12. Zhao, Zhongkuang & Li, Shuqi & Xiong, Heping, 2014. "Short sale constraints, disperse pessimistic beliefs and market efficiency — Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 333-342.
    13. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    14. Tibor Neugebauer & Sascha Füllbrunn, 2013. "Deflating Bubbles in Experimental Asset Markets: Comparative Statics of Margin Regulations," LSF Research Working Paper Series 13-14, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg.
    15. Guo, Hui & Qiu, Buhui, 2014. "Options-implied variance and future stock returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 93-113.
    16. Boulton, Thomas J. & Smart, Scott B. & Zutter, Chad J., 2020. "Worldwide short selling regulations and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Siu Kai Choy & Hua Zhang, 2019. "Public news announcements, short-sale restriction and informational efficiency," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 197-229, January.
    18. Hu, Yingyi & Zhao, Tiao & Zhang, Lin, 2020. "Noise trading, institutional trading, and opinion divergence: Evidence on intraday data in the Chinese stock market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 74-89.
    19. Charles M. Jones & Adam V. Reed & William Waller, 2016. "Revealing Shorts An Examination of Large Short Position Disclosures," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(12), pages 3278-3320.
    20. Hae Mi Choi, 2020. "Short‐sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short-sales constraints; Liquidity; Stock valuation; Investor opinions dispersion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:26:y:2014:i:c:p:98-122. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pacfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.