Risk transmission between Islamic and conventional stock markets: A return and volatility spillover analysis

Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, Román Ferrer, Laura Ballester and Zaghum Umar

International Review of Financial Analysis, 2017, vol. 52, issue C, 9-26

Abstract: This paper contributes to the current debate on the empirical validity of the decoupling hypothesis of the Islamic stock market from its mainstream counterparts by examining return and volatility spillovers across the global Islamic stock market, three main conventional national stock markets (the US, the UK and Japan) and a number of influential macroeconomic and financial variables over the period from July 1996 to June 2016. To that end, the VAR-based spillover index approach based on the generalized VAR framework developed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) is applied. The empirical analysis shows strong interactions in return and volatility among the global Islamic stock market, the conventional stock markets and the set of major risk factors considered. This finding means that the Islamic equity universe does not constitute a viable alternative for investors who wish to hedge their investments against the vagaries of stock markets, but it is exposed to the same global factors and risks hitting the conventional financial system. Therefore, this evidence leads to the rejection of the decoupling hypothesis of the Islamic stock market from conventional stock markets, which has significant implications for faith-based investors and policy makers in terms of portfolio diversification, hedging strategies and contagion risk.

Keywords: Islamic stock market; Conventional stock markets; Global risk factors; Return and volatility spillovers; Spillover index approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C58 G01 G15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (84)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finana:v:52:y:2017:i:c:p:9-26

DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2017.04.005

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