Volatility Linkages between Equity Markets of Pakistan, India, Singapore and Hong Kong: A GARCH BEKK Approach

The purpose of current study is to explore the volatility linkages between four Asian equity markets, which arePakistan (Karachi Stock Exchange), India (Bombay Stock Exchange), Hong Kong (Hang Sang Index) and Singapore (Strait Time Index). We estimate Multivariate GARCH BEKK model using weekly returns from January 2000 to August 2011.Direct evidences of linkages are found among all markets with respect to conditional mean returns and volatility.Own volatility spillover is found greater than cross volatility spillover in all emerging and developed economies.The insinuation of this study is that overseas investors may take advantage from the decrease of uncertainty by accumulating the stocks in the emerging markets to their investment portfolio

Underutilized Grasses Production: New Evolving Perspectives

Globally, over-reliance on major food crops (wheat, rice and maize) has led to food basket’s shrinking, while climate change, environmental pollution and deteriorating soil fertility demand the cultivation of less exhaustive but nutritious grasses. Unlike neglected grasses (grass species restricted to their centres of origin and only grown at the subsistence level), many underutilized grasses (grass species whose yield or usability potential remains unrealized) are resistant and resilient to abiotic stresses and have multiple uses including food (Coix lacryma-jobi), feed (Eragrostis amabilis and Cynodon dactylon), esthetic value (Miscanthus sinensis and Imperata cylindrica), renewable energy production (Spartina pectinata and Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and contribution to ecosystem services (Saccharum spontaneum). Lack of agricultural market globalization, urbanization and prevalence of large commercial enterprises that favor major grasses trade, improved communication means that promoted specialization in favor of established crops, scant planting material of underutilized grasses and fewer research on their production technology and products development are the prime challenges posed to underutilized grasses promotion. Integration of agronomic research with novel plant protection measures and plant breeding and molecular genetics approaches for developing biotic and abiotic stresses tolerant cultivars along with the development of commercially attractive food products hold the future key for promoting underutilized grasses for supplanting food security and sustainably multiplying economic outcomes