IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurase/v12y2022i2d10.1007_s40822-021-00191-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Herding behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparison between Asian and European stock markets based on intraday multifractality

Author

Listed:
  • Faheem Aslam

    (Comsats University
    Hanyang University)

  • Paulo Ferreira

    (VALORIZA—Research Center for Endogenous Resource Valorization
    Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre
    CEFAGE-UE, IIFA, University of Évora)

  • Haider Ali

    (Comsats University)

  • Sumera Kauser

    (Comsats University)

Abstract

With the spread of Covid-19, investors’ expectations changed during 2020, as well as financial markets’ policy responses and the structure of global financial intermediation itself. These dynamics are studied in this paper, which analyzes quarterly changes in herding behavior by quantifying the self-similarity intensity of six stock markets in Asia and Europe. A multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) is applied, using intraday trade prices with a 15-min frequency from Jan-2020 to Dec-2020. The empirical results confirm that Covid-19 had a significant impact on the efficiency of the stock markets under study, although with a quarterly varying impact. During the first quarter of the year, European stock markets remained efficient compared to Asian markets; in the subsequent two quarters, the Chinese stock market showed significant improvement in its efficiency and became the least inefficient market, with a decline in the market efficiency of the UK and Japan. Furthermore, European markets are more sensitive to asset losses than Asian markets, so investors are more likely to show herding in the former. Herding was at its peak during the 2nd quarter of 2020. These findings could be related to possible market inefficiencies and herding behavior, implying the possibility of investors forming profitable trading strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Faheem Aslam & Paulo Ferreira & Haider Ali & Sumera Kauser, 2022. "Herding behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparison between Asian and European stock markets based on intraday multifractality," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(2), pages 333-359, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:12:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s40822-021-00191-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-021-00191-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40822-021-00191-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40822-021-00191-4?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. Mathias Drehmann & Jörg Oechssler & Andreas Roider, 2005. "Herding and Contrarian Behavior in Financial Markets: An Internet Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1403-1426, December.
    2. Chang, Eric C. & Cheng, Joseph W. & Khorana, Ajay, 2000. "An examination of herd behavior in equity markets: An international perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1651-1679, October.
    3. Dewandaru, Ginanjar & Masih, Rumi & Bacha, Obiyathulla Ismath & Masih, A. Mansur. M., 2015. "Developing trading strategies based on fractal finance: An application of MF-DFA in the context of Islamic equities," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 438(C), pages 223-235.
    4. Lakonishok, Josef & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1992. "The impact of institutional trading on stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 23-43, August.
    5. Uchida, Hirofumi & Nakagawa, Ryuichi, 2007. "Herd behavior in the Japanese loan market: Evidence from bank panel data," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 555-583, October.
    6. Prasenjit Chakrabarti & Mohammad Shameem Jawed & Manish Sarkhel, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic and global financial market interlinkages: a dynamic temporal network analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(25), pages 2930-2945, May.
    7. Shleifer, Andrei & Summers, Lawrence H, 1990. "The Noise Trader Approach to Finance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 19-33, Spring.
    8. Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino, 2005. "Herd Behavior in a Laboratory Financial Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1427-1443, December.
    9. Zhang, Dayong & Hu, Min & Ji, Qiang, 2020. "Financial markets under the global pandemic of COVID-19," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    10. Patrick A. Groenendijk & André Lucas & Casper G. de Vries, 1998. "A Hybrid Joint Moment Ratio Test for Financial Time Series," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-104/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    11. Espinosa-Méndez, Christian & Arias, Jose, 2021. "COVID-19 effect on herding behaviour in European capital markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    12. Khuntia, Sashikanta & Pattanayak, J.K., 2020. "Adaptive long memory in volatility of intra-day bitcoin returns and the impact of trading volume," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    13. Faheem Aslam & Tahir Mumtaz Awan & Jabir Hussain Syed & Aisha Kashif & Mahwish Parveen, 2020. "Sentiments and emotions evoked by news headlines of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    14. Richard W. Sias, 2004. "Institutional Herding," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 165-206.
    15. Mnif, Emna & Jarboui, Anis & Mouakhar, Khaireddine, 2020. "How the cryptocurrency market has performed during COVID 19? A multifractal analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    16. Petre Caraiani, 2012. "Evidence of Multifractality from Emerging European Stock Markets," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(7), pages 1-9, July.
    17. Haroon, Omair & Rizvi, Syed Aun R., 2020. "COVID-19: Media coverage and financial markets behavior—A sectoral inquiry," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    18. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    19. da Silva Filho, Antônio Carlos & Maganini, Natália Diniz & de Almeida, Eduardo Fonseca, 2018. "Multifractal analysis of Bitcoin market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 512(C), pages 954-967.
    20. Niels Joachim Gormsen & Ralph S J Koijen & Nikolai Roussanov, 0. "Coronavirus: Impact on Stock Prices and Growth Expectations," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 574-597.
    21. Burch, Timothy R. & Emery, Douglas R. & Fuerst, Michael E., 2016. "Who Moves Markets in a Sudden Marketwide Crisis? Evidence from 9/11," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 463-487, April.
    22. Devenow, Andrea & Welch, Ivo, 1996. "Rational herding in financial economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 603-615, April.
    23. Trueman, Brett, 1994. "Analyst Forecasts and Herding Behavior," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 97-124.
    24. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1998. "A Model of Investor Sentiment," Scholarly Articles 30747159, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    25. Faheem Aslam & Wahbeeah Mohti & Paulo Ferreira, 2020. "Evidence of Intraday Multifractality in European Stock Markets during the Recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13, May.
    26. Carmen M. Reinhart, 2022. "From Health Crisis to Financial Distress," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(1), pages 4-31, March.
    27. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    28. Rowe,J. W. F., 2014. "Markets and Men," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107675001, October.
    29. Kantelhardt, Jan W. & Zschiegner, Stephan A. & Koscielny-Bunde, Eva & Havlin, Shlomo & Bunde, Armin & Stanley, H.Eugene, 2002. "Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of nonstationary time series," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 316(1), pages 87-114.
    30. Froot, Kenneth A & Scharftstein, David S & Stein, Jeremy C, 1992. "Herd on the Street: Informational Inefficiencies in a Market with Short-Term Speculation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1461-1484, September.
    31. Raghuram G. Rajan, 2006. "Has Finance Made the World Riskier?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 12(4), pages 499-533, September.
    32. Scharfstein, David S & Stein, Jeremy C, 1990. "Herd Behavior and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 465-479, June.
    33. Rizvi, Syed Aun R. & Dewandaru, Ginanjar & Bacha, Obiyathulla I. & Masih, Mansur, 2014. "An analysis of stock market efficiency: Developed vs Islamic stock markets using MF-DFA," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 407(C), pages 86-99.
    34. Franck Jovanovic & Christophe Schinckus, 2013. "The Emergence of Econophysics: A New Approach in Modern Financial Theory," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 443-474, Fall.
    35. Mr. Sunil Sharma & Sushil Bikhchandani, 2000. "Herd Behavior in Financial Markets: A Review," IMF Working Papers 2000/048, International Monetary Fund.
    36. Bowe, Michael & Domuta, Daniela, 2004. "Investor herding during financial crisis: A clinical study of the Jakarta Stock Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 387-418, September.
    37. Li, Da-Ye & Nishimura, Yusaku & Men, Ming, 2014. "Fractal markets: Liquidity and investors on different time horizons," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 407(C), pages 144-151.
    38. Avery, Christopher & Zemsky, Peter, 1998. "Multidimensional Uncertainty and Herd Behavior in Financial Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(4), pages 724-748, September.
    39. Bernard Njindan Iyke, 2020. "The Disease Outbreak Channel of Exchange Rate Return Predictability: Evidence from COVID-19," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 2277-2297, August.
    40. Domino, Krzysztof, 2011. "The use of the Hurst exponent to predict changes in trends on the Warsaw Stock Exchange," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(1), pages 98-109.
    41. BenMabrouk, Houda & Litimi, Houda, 2018. "Cross herding between American industries and the oil market," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 196-205.
    42. Okorie, David Iheke & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Stock markets and the COVID-19 fractal contagion effects," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    43. Spyros Spyrou, 2013. "Herding in financial markets: a review of the literature," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 175-194, November.
    44. Tan, Lin & Chiang, Thomas C. & Mason, Joseph R. & Nelling, Edward, 2008. "Herding behavior in Chinese stock markets: An examination of A and B shares," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 16(1-2), pages 61-77, January.
    45. Barberis, Nicholas & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1998. "A model of investor sentiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 307-343, September.
    46. Zebende, G.F., 2011. "DCCA cross-correlation coefficient: Quantifying level of cross-correlation," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(4), pages 614-618.
    47. T. Di Matteo, 2007. "Multi-scaling in finance," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 21-36.
    48. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    49. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The contagion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from gold and cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    50. Goodell, John W., 2020. "COVID-19 and finance: Agendas for future research," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    51. Hasan, Rashid & Mohammad, Salim M., 2015. "Multifractal analysis of Asian markets during 2007–2008 financial crisis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 419(C), pages 746-761.
    52. Cepoi, Cosmin-Octavian, 2020. "Asymmetric dependence between stock market returns and news during COVID-19 financial turmoil," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    53. R. Cont, 2001. "Empirical properties of asset returns: stylized facts and statistical issues," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 223-236.
    54. Sam Wylie, 2005. "Fund Manager Herding: A Test of the Accuracy of Empirical Results Using U.K. Data," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 381-403, January.
    55. John R. Graham, 1999. "Herding among Investment Newsletters: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(1), pages 237-268, February.
    56. Faheem Aslam & Paulo Ferreira & Khurrum Shahzad Mughal & Beenish Bashir, 2021. "Intraday Volatility Spillovers among European Financial Markets during COVID-19," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, January.
    57. Benoit Mandelbrot, 2015. "The Variation of Certain Speculative Prices," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anastasios G Malliaris & William T Ziemba (ed.), THE WORLD SCIENTIFIC HANDBOOK OF FUTURES MARKETS, chapter 3, pages 39-78, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    58. Litimi, Houda & BenSaïda, Ahmed & Bouraoui, Omar, 2016. "Herding and excessive risk in the American stock market: A sectoral analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 6-21.
    59. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Wang, Yu-Ann, 2020. "Herding behaviour in energy stock markets during the Global Financial Crisis, SARS, and ongoing COVID-19," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    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. Samuel Tabot Enow, 2023. "Financial Contagion and Duration: Evidence from International Financial Markets," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 1-7, July.

    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. Galariotis, Emilios C. & Rong, Wu & Spyrou, Spyros I., 2015. "Herding on fundamental information: A comparative study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 589-598.
    2. Puput Tri Komalasari & Marwan Asri & Bernardinus M. Purwanto & Bowo Setiyono, 2022. "Herding behaviour in the capital market: What do we know and what is next?," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 745-787, September.
    3. Wang, Xinru & Kim, Maria H. & Suardi, Sandy, 2022. "Herding and China's market-wide circuit breaker," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Muskan Sachdeva & Ritu Lehal & Sanjay Gupta & Aashish Garg, 2021. "What make investors herd while investing in the Indian stock market? A hybrid approach," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(1), pages 19-37, September.
    5. Li, Wei & Rhee, Ghon & Wang, Steven Shuye, 2017. "Differences in herding: Individual vs. institutional investors," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 174-185.
    6. Galariotis, Emilios C. & Krokida, Styliani-Iris & Spyrou, Spyros I., 2016. "Bond market investor herding: Evidence from the European financial crisis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 367-375.
    7. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2008. "Thought and Behavior Contagion in Capital Markets," MPRA Paper 9164, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Wang, Yu-Ann, 2020. "Herding behaviour in energy stock markets during the Global Financial Crisis, SARS, and ongoing COVID-19," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    9. Demirer, Riza & Kutan, Ali M. & Chen, Chun-Da, 2010. "Do investors herd in emerging stock markets?: Evidence from the Taiwanese market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 283-295, November.
    10. I. Koetsier & J.A. Bikker, 2017. "Herding behaviour of Dutch pension funds in sovereign bond investments," Working Papers 17-15, Utrecht School of Economics.
    11. M. Fern'andez-Mart'inez & M. A S'anchez-Granero & Mar'ia Jos'e Mu~noz Torrecillas & Bill McKelvey, 2016. "A comparison among some Hurst exponent approaches to predict nascent bubbles in $500$ company stocks," Papers 1601.04188, arXiv.org.
    12. I. Koetsier & J.A. Bikker, 2017. "Herding behaviour of Dutch pension funds in sovereign bond investments," Working Papers 17-15, Utrecht School of Economics.
    13. Oi-Ping Chong & A.N. Bany-Ariffin & Annuar Md Nassir & Junaina Muhammad, 2019. "An Empirical Study of Herding Behaviour in China’s A-Share and B-Share Markets: Evidence of Bidirectional Herding Activities," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 37-57.
    14. Dang, Ha V. & Lin, Mi, 2016. "Herd mentality in the stock market: On the role of idiosyncratic participants with heterogeneous information," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 247-260.
    15. Li, Zhuolei & Diao, Xundi & Wu, Chongfeng, 2022. "The influence of mobile trading on return dispersion and herding behavior," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    16. Zhao, Yuan & Liu, Nan & Li, Wanpeng, 2022. "Industry herding in crypto assets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Guiqiang Shi & Dehua Shen & Zhaobo Zhu, 2024. "Herding towards carbon neutrality: The role of investor attention," Post-Print hal-04348526, HAL.
    18. Pegah Dehghani & Ros Zam Zam Sapian, 2014. "Sectoral herding behavior in the aftermarket of Malaysian IPOs," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 227-246, July.
    19. Guney, Yilmaz & Kallinterakis, Vasileios & Komba, Gabriel, 2017. "Herding in frontier markets: Evidence from African stock exchanges," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 152-175.
    20. Arjoon, Vaalmikki & Bhatnagar, Chandra Shekhar & Ramlakhan, Prakash, 2020. "Herding in the Singapore stock Exchange," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; Fractals; Herding; High-frequent data; Multifractality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    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:spr:eurase:v:12:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s40822-021-00191-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.