IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v49y2009i3p1146-1158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short sale and stock returns: Evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange

Author

Listed:
  • Hu, Ou
  • Huang, Zhaodan
  • Liao, Bih-shuang

Abstract

Using short sale data of the Taiwan Stock Exchange from January 1991 to September 2004, we examine the informational role played by short interest in stock price formation. Consistent with previous findings based on the US and Australian stock markets, our results show that heavily shorted stocks generate significant and negative risk-adjusted abnormal returns. Moreover, the negative abnormal returns decrease in magnitude and also become statistically insignificant as the holding period extends from 1 month to 1 year. In addition, we test the effect on stock price overvaluation of the interaction of a short sale constraint and a dispersion of opinion. When using turnover ratio as a proxy for a dispersion of opinion, we find that even when the holding period is 6 months, the overvaluation is still significant. Moreover, when a high degree of a dispersion of opinion is captured by a high relative short interest and a high relative margin trade level, the overvaluation remains statistically significant even for a 1-year holding period.

Suggested Citation

  • Hu, Ou & Huang, Zhaodan & Liao, Bih-shuang, 2009. "Short sale and stock returns: Evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 1146-1158, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:49:y:2009:i:3:p:1146-1158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062-9769(08)00081-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 1998. "Value versus Growth: The International Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 1975-1999, December.
    2. Karl B. Diether & Christopher J. Malloy & Anna Scherbina, 2002. "Differences of Opinion and the Cross Section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2113-2141, October.
    3. Honghui Chen & Vijay Singal, 2003. "Role of Speculative Short Sales in Price Formation: The Case of the Weekend Effect," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 685-706, April.
    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. Hemang Desai & K. Ramesh & S. Ramu Thiagarajan & Bala V. Balachandran, 2002. "An Investigation of the Informational Role of Short Interest in the Nasdaq Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2263-2287, October.
    6. Michael J. Aitken & Alex Frino & Michael S. McCorry & Peter L. Swan, 1998. "Short Sales Are Almost Instantaneously Bad News: Evidence from the Australian Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 2205-2223, December.
    7. Senchack, A. J. & Starks, Laura T., 1993. "Short-Sale Restrictions and Market Reaction to Short-Interest Announcements," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 177-194, June.
    8. K. Geert Rouwenhorst, 1999. "Local Return Factors and Turnover in Emerging Stock Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1439-1464, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Jones, Charles M. & Lamont, Owen A., 2002. "Short-sale constraints and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 207-239.
    11. Asquith, Paul & Pathak, Parag A. & Ritter, Jay R., 2005. "Short interest, institutional ownership, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 243-276, November.
    12. 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.
    13. Boehme, Rodney D. & Danielsen, Bartley R. & Sorescu, Sorin M., 2006. "Short-Sale Constraints, Differences of Opinion, and Overvaluation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 455-487, June.
    14. Figlewski, Stephen & Webb, Gwendolyn P, 1993. "Options, Short Sales, and Market Completeness," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(2), pages 761-777, June.
    15. Honghui Chen & Vijay Singal, 2003. "Role of Speculative Short Sales in Price Formation: The Case of the Weekend Effect," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 685-705, April.
    16. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    17. Danielsen, Bartley R. & Sorescu, Sorin M., 2001. "Why Do Option Introductions Depress Stock Prices? A Study of Diminishing Short Sale Constraints," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 451-484, December.
    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. Lin, Mei-Chen & Lin, Yu-Ling, 2021. "Idiosyncratic skewness and cross-section of stock returns: Evidence from Taiwan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Bohl, Martin T. & Essid, Badye & Siklos, Pierre L., 2012. "Do short selling restrictions destabilize stock markets? Lessons from Taiwan," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 198-206.
    3. Zhao, Yan & Cheng, Lee-Young & Chang, Chong-Chuo & Ni, Cih-Ying, 2013. "Short sales, margin purchases and bid–ask spreads," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 199-220.
    4. Tsai, Chia-Fen & Chang, Jung-Hsien & Tsai, Feng-Tse, 2021. "Lottery preferences and retail short selling," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    5. Frühwirth, Manfred & Sögner, Leopold, 2015. "Weather and SAD related mood effects on the financial market," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 11-31.

    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. Lecce, Steven & Lepone, Andrew & McKenzie, Michael D. & Segara, Reuben, 2012. "The impact of naked short selling on the securities lending and equity market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 81-107.
    2. Fellner, Gerlinde & Theissen, Erik, 2014. "Short sale constraints, divergence of opinion and asset prices: Evidence from the laboratory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 113-127.
    3. Hauser, Florian & Huber, Jürgen, 2012. "Short-selling constraints as cause for price distortions: An experimental study," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1279-1298.
    4. Frino, Alex & Lecce, Steven & Lepone, Andrew, 2011. "Short-sales constraints and market quality: Evidence from the 2008 short-sales bans," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 225-236, August.
    5. Blau, Benjamin M. & Van Ness, Robert A. & Warr, Richard S., 2012. "Short selling of ADRs and foreign market short-sale constraints," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 886-897.
    6. Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim & Bremer, Marc & Kato, Hideaki Kiyoshi, 2018. "Are short-sales constraints binding when there is a centralized lendable securities market? Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 85-96.
    7. Chen, Crystal Xiaobei & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2010. "Short sales and speed of price adjustment: Evidence from the Hong Kong stock market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 471-483, February.
    8. 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).
    9. 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.
    10. Jose Gutierrez & Steve Johnson & Robert Stretcher, 2018. "A synthesized model of short selling constraints and their impact on stock returns," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(1), pages 191-210, January.
    11. Kelley Bergsma & Jitendra Tayal, 2019. "Short Interest and Lottery Stocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 187-227, March.
    12. Gerlinde Fellner & Erik Theissen, 2006. "Short Sale Constraints, Divergence of Opinion and Asset Values: Evidence from the Laboratory," Labsi Experimental Economics Laboratory University of Siena 009, University of Siena.
    13. R. Jared DeLisle & Bong Soo Lee & Nathan Mauck, 2016. "The dynamic relation between options trading, short selling, and aggregate stock returns," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 645-671, October.
    14. Blau, Benjamin M. & Wade, Chip, 2012. "Informed or speculative: Short selling analyst recommendations," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 14-25.
    15. Antonio Gargano & Juan Sotes-Paladino & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2022. "Out of Sync: Dispersed Short Selling and the Correction of Mispricing," Working Papers 108, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Chang, Eric C. & Cheng, Joseph W. & Pinegar, J. Michael & Yu, Yinghui, 2012. "Short-sale constraints: Reductions in costs of capital or overvaluation? Evidence from Hong Kong," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 506-520.
    20. 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.

    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:quaeco:v:49:y:2009:i:3:p:1146-1158. 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/inca/620167 .

    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.