Market Liquidity and Strategic Asset Allocation: Applications to GCC Stock Exchanges

Mazin A. M. Al Janabi

Middle East Development Journal, 2009, vol. 1, issue 2, 227-254

Abstract: This paper aims at investigating issues of asset allocation and equity trading risk in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets. The intent of this work is to bridge the gap in current asset market liquidity risk management methodologies and to assist GCC financial institutions in developing proactive asset market liquidity risk management techniques to assess potential market risks in light of the upshots of the current financial crisis. Using daily data of main market indicators for the period 2004–2009 and the Liquidity-Adjusted Value at Risk (L-VaR) model, the author finds that the distribution of the equity returns in the GCC stock markets is far from being normal and thus justifies using the L-VaR model, combined with other methods such as stress-testing, to incorporate the other remaining risks. Furthermore, the author shows that although there is a clear departure from normality, the asset market liquidity risk can be estimated without the need of complex mathematical and analytical procedures. To this end, several financial modeling strategies are achieved with the objective of creating a realistic framework of equity trading risk measurement in addition to the instigation of a practical iterative optimization technique for the calculation of maximum authorized L-VaR limits, subject to meaningful real-word operational constraints. Our modeling technique and empirical analysis have important implications for the GCC financial markets and can aid local financial institutions in developing advanced internal risk models and in complying with the requirements of the Basel II committee on capital adequacy.

Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1142/S1793812009000115 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rmdjxx:v:1:y:2009:i:2:p:227-254

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rmdj20

DOI: 10.1142/S1793812009000115

Access Statistics for this article

Middle East Development Journal is currently edited by Raimundo Soto

More articles in Middle East Development Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().