Behavioural Biases and Investor Decisions

The paper examines the impact of behavioural biases (i.e. cognitive and emotional biases) on investor decisions at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The data was collected from a sample of 385 active investors in the stock market through a pre-tested questionnaire adapted from Chaffai & Medhioub (2014). The results suggest that five behavioural biases (i.e. anchoring, risk aversion, overconfidence, representativeness and regret aversion) have a positive and significant influence on investor decisions in Pakistan. On the contrary, two behavioural biases (i.e. mental accounting and availability) do not have a statistically significant impact on investor decisions. The findings imply that behavioural factors have a profound effect on investor decisions as argued by behavioural finance theorists.Keywords: Behavioural Finance, Behavioural Biases, Investor Decisions

The Determinants of Mutual Funds Success in Pakistan

The prime goal of this research is to find out the determinants of mutual fund’s success in Pakistan. This study exploits the convenient sampling techniques and the data gathered from fund manager reports, annual reports, and from CDCPL. The sample size of this study relaxed to six Assets Management Companies (AMC)’s from 2013 to 2017. We applied a unit root test for finding the nature of data and check the variation of variable’s mutual performance by Hausman Technique. Moreover, we depicted the association between dependent and independent variables with the help of Constant Coefficient Model. It was concluded that risk-adjusted return, management structure, and expense ratio have a significant impact on the size of fund of selected AMC’S of Pakistan. However, the net asset value found to be negatively related with the size of the fund. This research will help investors, AMC’s and regulatory bodies to understand the dynamics of mutual funds in Pakistan.DOI: 10.15408/ess.v8i2.743

Consumer’s Preference and Awareness: Comparative Analysis between Conventional and Islamic Ijarah Auto Financing in Pakistan

A healthy banking industry plays a vital role in the economic stability, and banks success depends on its products. Therefore, this study aims at cognizing the consumer’s preference and awareness of Islamic Ijarah over the conventional lease in Pakistan. This research used regression as tools of analysis. The findings indicate that convenience is the prime determinant for preference of Ijarah over the lease. Moreover, all other factors except religion also support in the motivate selection of Islamic banking products. Therefore, it can be concluded that in Pakistan, religion is not the only fact motivates individuals to prefer Ijarah. Based on findings, it is recommended to relevant stakeholders to create more awareness among masses about Ijarah and to further ease out policies in order to harness optimum benefit.DOI: 10.15408/aiq.v10i2.710

Is Bankruptcy Risk a Systematic Risk? Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange

This study empirically investigates the relationship between default risk and cross-section of stock returns in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Stock price data from all listed and delisted companies use to calculate monthly returns from 2001-2016. Ohlson's O-score is employed to measure exposure of firm to systematic deviation within bankruptcy risk. Besides, asset-pricing models like the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Fama French (FF) models are employed. Portfolios are sorted in deciles by default probability. This result finds that stocks of firms significantly exposed to not diversified Default Risk yield higher returns. Besides that, the FF models explain cross-sectional stock returns since factors incorporate information on financial distress and default. After that, the book-to-market equity factor is not significant in elucidating returns of distressed firms because of market inefficiency. Results have practical implications for portfolio managers and investors of an emerging economy in developing diversified portfolios during periods of uncertainty and market volatility.JEL Classifications: G12, G15, G33How to Cite:Chhapra, I. U., Zehra, I., Kashif, M., & Rehan, R. (2020). Is Bankruptcy Risk a Systematic Risk? Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange. Etikonomi: Jurnal Ekonomi, 19(1), 51 – 62. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v19i1.11248

Design and Control of High Altitude Platform for Communication and Navigation Purpose

The high altitude platform is designed for navigation and communication purpose. This work focuses on the design and dynamic model of airship that can operate at a height of twenty kilometers above sea level. Significant target of this paper is to propose a coordinating system which can remotely pilot and also has an option of autopilot with auto station keeping. The various control techniques are presented in order to achieve the level flight. First a comprehensive physical and mathematical nonlinear model of the airship is presented and then linearize it by the means of linearization principles. After that, model based control technique such as Linear Feedback Control (LFC), Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and proportional, integral and differential (PID) control are used to achieve level flight of the airship which give robustness against climatic and outer turbulences. With a specific end goal to represent the model based control strategies. The level flight has been accomplished successfully and has been validated by utilizing Simulink and Flight gear Simulators. The outcomes show that the proposed procedures gives soundness, better execution and prudent control endeavors. At the end of the thesis, a comparison is reported to show the performance of the proposed controllers

Are Stock Prices a Random Walk? An Empirical Evidence of Asian Stock Markets

Investigating if the market is efficient is an old issue as market efficiency is imperative for channeling investments to best-valued projects and its importance endures. There is contradictory evidence in the literature provided by empirical researches. The primary purpose of this research has been to find out whether share prices are a random walk process by applying multiple unit root tests, Runs Test and newly developed State Space Model. The empirical findings of the study provide sufficient evidence that the stock prices of KSE 100 Index, S &amp; P BSE 500 Index, and CSE All Share Index is not a random walk process and are thus weak form inefficient hypothesis. In this study, the concept of the random walk is examined considering only the stock markets while bypassing the other asset markets. This research supply exciting facts about independent samples from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and complement the existing literature on emerging markets.DOI: 10.15408/etk.v17i2.7102</p

Sequential damage study induced in fiber reinforced composites by shear and tensile stress using a newly developed Arcan fixture

This work presents the application of both uniaxial and bi-axial in-plane loads to unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates using a newly developed Arcan fixture, which is a reliable experimental set-up to obtain a uniform shear stress field in a butterfly specimen. The set-up can be used for both damage model validation and parameters identification at various fiber orientations while using the same specimens. A sequential damage study was completed to highlight the influence of diffused damage induced in pure shear on the fiber direction tensile behavior of the laminate. This was accomplished by applying load on the specimens in two steps: (i) the pure shear step and then unloading at approximately 70% of the shear failure strength, (ii) in the tensile step until final failure. A clear drop in the tensile behavior of the laminate was observed by the diffused damage induced in the first loading step of pure shear. The experimental study is also supplemented with numerical simulations using a nonlinear elasto-plastic coupled damage constitutive law by employing Puck’s failure theory for mesodamage activation. In addition to the damage pattern, the non-linear mechanical behavior in shear is predicted and found in good correspondence with the experimental results

An electronic textile embedded smart cementitious composite

Abstract: Structural health monitoring (SHM) using self‐sensing cement‐based materials has been reported before, where nano‐fillers have been incorporated in cementitious matrices as functional sensing elements. A percolation threshold is always required in order for conductive nano‐fillers modified concrete to be useful for SHM. Nonetheless, the best pressure/strain sensitivity results achieved for any self‐sensing cementitious matrix are <0.01 MPa−1. In this work, we introduce for the first‐time novel partially reduced graphene oxide based electronic textile (e‐textile) embedded in plain and as well as in polymer‐binder‐modified cementitious matrix for SHM applications. These e‐textile embedded cementitious composites are independent of any percolation threshold due to the interconnected fabric inside the host matrix. The piezo‐resistive response was measured by applying direct and cyclic compressive loads (ranging from 0.10 to 3.90 MPa). A pressure sensitivity of 1.50 MPa−1 and an ultra‐high gauge factor of 2000 was obtained for the system of the self‐sensing cementitious structure with embedded e‐textiles. The sensitivity of this new system with embedded e‐textile is an order of magnitude higher than the state‐of‐the‐art nanoparticle based self‐sensing cementitious composites. The composites showed mechanical stability and functional durability over long‐term cyclic compression tests of 1000 cycles. Additionally, a two time‐constant model was used to validate the experimental results on decay response of the e‐textile embedded composites

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts