COVID-19 Cases, Deaths, Vaccinations and Malaysian Islamic Stock Market Returns

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been the greatest disrupting pandemic that results in economy and social devastations. This study aims to explore the impact of novel COVID-19 pandemic on Islamic stock market returns in Malaysia. We find that COVID-19 new cases exert negative and significant effect on Islamic stock market returns. In addition, COVID-19 deaths significantly and adversely influence Islamic stock market returns. Particularly, the findings reveal that higher levels of COVID-19 new cases and deaths tend to reduce Islamic stock returns in Malaysia. Interestingly, we document that vaccinations have no impact in influencing Islamic stock market returns, signifying that vaccinations are not effective in improving Islamic stock market returns in Malaysia over the sample period. Our findings provide important implications for academics, policymakers and investors to comprehend the effect of COVID-19 on Islamic stock returns. The results suggest that Islamic stock investments in Malaysia do not show as a superior investment option during the health crisis

Does International Financial Reporting Standards convergence promote informational efficiency?

This study explores a novel extension of the informational efficiency literature. We examine the impact of the convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on stock price delay in the Malaysian stock market over a study period2001 to 2016. The study uses Hou and Moskowitz’s (2005) model to measure the stock price delay, an inverse indicator of informational efficiency. It is found that stocks have less delay on price adjustment to local and global market-wide information during the convergence of IFRS than before the IFRS was converged. Further, the panel data analysis is applied to test the empirical linkages between the convergence of IFRS and stock price delay. After controlling for trading volume, firm size, market volatility and financial crisis, we find strong evidence that the IFRS plays an essential role in promoting informational efficiency. Specifically, the convergence of IFRS decreases the local and global stock price delay. This is possibly due to the IFRS convergence promotes a more transparent reporting mechanism, reduces asymmetric information among market participants and thereby enhances stock price efficiency in incorporating information. The findings will be of help to policymakers in the effort to increase informational efficiency and those with interest in the subject

Size, seasonality, market states and contrarian profits

The study investigates the profitability of contrarian and momentum strategies for short, intermediate and long investment horizons in the Malaysian stock market from 1990-2016. Unlike developed markets, the findings reveal that momentum strategies do not generate profits in Malaysia. Rather, contrarian strategies realise significant returns over short, intermediate and long investment horizons. Contrarian profits are most pronounced among medium- and small-capitalisation stocks. Moreover, the previously documented February/Chinese New Year effect is evident in contrarian profits. Further, market states are important determinants of contrarian profits. Specifically, contrarian returns are greater following market downturns than market upturns. The findings provide important implications for investors who are considering momentum and contrarian strategies as potential investments

Does the quality of governance matter for equity market risk? Evidence from emerging and developed equity markets

This paper examines the relation between country-level governance and cross-country differences in equity market risk by employing panel data regressions. For emerging markets, we find consistent evidence that governance quality of various dimensions is negatively related to equity market risk. On the contrary, for developed markets, the results show that there is generally little or no relation between governance quality and equity market risk. The results provide practical implication to policy makers of emerging markets by highlighting the relevant governance dimensions that constitute important drivers of stock market risk. The findings have academic implication in the context of equilibrium pricing of stock market in emerging market

What affects investment decisions among undergraduates during COVID-19 pandemic?

Due to advancements in technology, increased convenience and other developments, investing has become popular among the younger generation. They can boost their income and accumulate wealth more quickly by investing. However, the investors should plan and execute trading strategies carefully before investing to avoid losing money. This study aims to investigate factors affecting investment decisions among undergraduates in the Malaysian stock market during COVID-19 pandemic. Factors examined include firm image, information, economic expectations and advocate recommendations which might influence investment decisions among investors. There are 100 undergraduates from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia involved in the study. The findings indicate that firm image, economic expectations and advocate recommendations have a positive and significant relationship with investment decisions among undergraduates during COVID-19 pandemic. That is, undergraduates tend to invest in the stock market when firm image and economic expectations are optimistic while advocate recommendations are supportive. In addition, information does affect the investment decisions among undergraduates. This study is able to provide several important implications to policymakers, firms and investors

Challenges experienced by Malaysian students abroad

This paper examines the challenges and adaptations faced by Malaysian students while studying abroad. To improve the quality of human capital in the country, many firms encourage Malaysian students to study overseas in various fields. The quality of education and the advancement of science and technology in foreign countries enable students to gain new knowledge that is not offered by local universities. Nevertheless, students suffer from financial stress and culture shocks when adapting to a new environment in host countries. This study examines 198 Malaysian students from numerous universities and colleges abroad, including Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Middle East. The findings imply that students experience financial hardship and depend on several sources to survive when studying abroad. In addition, students face difficulties in practicing their religions and cultures, language proficiencies, and changes in food preferences. The lack of social support and the limited number of friends are also the dilemmas faced by the students in the host country

SIRT1 Promotes N-Myc Oncogenesis through a Positive Feedback Loop Involving the Effects of MKP3 and ERK on N-Myc Protein Stability

The N-Myc oncoprotein is a critical factor in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis which requires additional mechanisms converting a low-level to a high-level N-Myc expression. N-Myc protein is stabilized when phosphorylated at Serine 62 by phosphorylated ERK protein. Here we describe a novel positive feedback loop whereby N-Myc directly induced the transcription of the class III histone deacetylase SIRT1, which in turn increased N-Myc protein stability. SIRT1 binds to Myc Box I domain of N-Myc protein to form a novel transcriptional repressor complex at gene promoter of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 3 (MKP3), leading to transcriptional repression of MKP3, ERK protein phosphorylation, N-Myc protein phosphorylation at Serine 62, and N-Myc protein stabilization. Importantly, SIRT1 was up-regulated, MKP3 down-regulated, in pre-cancerous cells, and preventative treatment with the SIRT1 inhibitor Cambinol reduced tumorigenesis in TH-MYCN transgenic mice. Our data demonstrate the important roles of SIRT1 in N-Myc oncogenesis and SIRT1 inhibitors in the prevention and therapy of N-Myc–induced neuroblastoma

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Risk, business cycles and financial crises: evidence from Islamic and conventional stocks

This study examines whether business cycles and financial crises affect the risk of Islamic stocks compared to conventional stocks in Malaysia for the period 1997 to 2016. The findings conclude that business cycles play a crucial role in affecting stock risk. Specifically, stock risk tends to be higher during the economic contraction than during economic expansion for Islamic, conventional and all stocks. We further test whether Asian and Global financial crises exacerbate stock risk. The results document that the level of stock risk increases during financial crises. Moreover, we find that the impact of economic contraction and financial crises on increasing stock risk remain significant after controlling for various variables known to have effect on risks. In addition, we discover that the risk of Islamic stock is lower compared to those of conventional and all stocks during the economic contraction and financial crises. This recommends the diversification advantage and investment opportunity of the Islamic stocks during the periods of financial turbulence. The findings offer important insights to investors who are considering Islamic or conventional stocks as potential investment and to policymakers in evaluating stock risk in different economic states

Asset pricing factors in Malaysian equity returns

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This thesis examines asset pricing factors in Malaysian equity returns. The first study provides new evidence on the pricing of Malaysian equities using the Fama and French (1993) three-factor model and the Carhart (1997) momentum-augmented model for the period 1992 to 2013. In particular, this study is the first attempt to examine whether size, value and momentum factors are priced in the cross-section of Malaysian equity returns. The momentum-augmented model possesses slightly more explanatory power than the Fama-French three-factor model in explaining equity returns. There is evidence that the market risk premium and the value premium are significant. Both of these factors are priced in equity returns. In contrast, neither size nor momentum factors are priced. The second study evaluates the performance of size, value and momentum factors across economic states in Malaysia from 1992 to 2013. No previous study has analysed whether these empirical regularities are related to economic states in the Malaysian setting. The value premium is consistently positive, while there is variation in size and momentum premiums across various holding periods. Further, there is evidence that the size premium is countercyclical. In contrast, value and momentum premiums do not vary significantly across economic states irrespective of the variable employed to define economic states. Hence, these anomalies cannot be explained by macroeconomic risk factors in the Malaysian setting. The third study is a novel attempt to examine the pervasiveness of size, value and momentum anomalies across size groupings in the Malaysian stock market over the period 1992 to 2013. Using portfolio sorts and cross-sectional regressions, there is evidence that the value premium is pervasive for micro, small and big stocks. In addition, the size premium is only concentrated among micro stocks. In contrast, momentum is not a robust explanatory factor of stock returns in all size groups. Moreover, anomalous returns associated with firm size, book-to-market and momentum variables are not driven by seasonality