This dissertation consists of two essays: the first investigates informed trading in the Chinese stock exchanges, and the second examines the persistency of correlation of currency future prices. For the first essay, using a sample of Chinese firms dual-listed in both the China mainland stock exchange and the Hong Kong stock exchange, I investigate the two types of informed trading - insider trading and trading derived from better analysis in the A-and H-share markets. The results suggest that H-shares have relatively more informed trading based on better analysis. In addition, the results from the firm size regression can also be seen as indirect evidence that larger firms tend to have trading with better analysis and less insider trading. These patterns are also confirmed in the sub-period analysis. However, I find no significant relation between informed trading and the relative pricing of A- and H-shares. For the second essay I examine the dynamic correlation between currency futures prices, focusing on the persistency of correlation of currency prices. Using the Dynamic Conditional Correlation model developed by Engle (2002), this study incorporates time-varying correlations into the analysis. The sample includes eight currency futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from 1999 to 2008 and the U.S. dollar index future. The study finds that the Canadian dollar has the greater persistency while the Brazilian real has the weakest. No less important, the study finds that the time-varying conditional correlation between currency futures and the U.S. dollar futures is influenced by two types of liquidity: price impacts (Amihud illiquidity) and the logarithm of trading volume.

The world is getting more and more globalized and more countries choose to make business abroad today compared to only ten years ago. To establish abroad involves a lot of risks for a company and one important risk a company need to pay attention to is thecurrency risk. A corporation can be exposed to different kinds of currency risks and there is a lot of derivates to use when hedging against those risks. Which strategy or method a company uses is regulated in its financial policy, which constitutes an important part in the work against currency exposure. The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate which currency hedging methods and derivates Swedish export companies are using when trading on the international market. Another part of the purpose is to explore if there is a difference between large and small companies when it comes to currency hedging and if there is, why there is a difference. To get the answers of the purpose a qualitative study were used and three intervjues with three companies of different sizes in the energy industry were made. The study also included one interview with an expert in the area of currency hedging. Together with theory and earlier studies the dissertation came to a conclusion. The conclusion of this study was that companies are using different derivates to protect themselves against currency risks and there is a difference between small and large companies in the hedging, mainly in the number of different derivates. Another conclusion that can be drawn was that warrants and futures is the most common derivates among swedish export companies which also is supported by theory and earlier studies. / Världen blir allt mer globaliserad och fler och fler länder väljer att röra sig utanför de nationella gränserna och göra affärer internationellt. Att etablera sig utomlands innebär många risker för ett företag och en viktig risk ett företag måste beakta vid handel internationellt är valutarisken. Ett företag kan bli exponerade mot olika typer av valutarisker och det finns flera instrument att använda sig av för att skydda sig mot dessa. Vilken metod ett företag använder sig av finns reglerat i företagens finanspolicy, vilken utgör en viktig del i arbetet mot valutaexponering. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka valutasäkringsmetoder och instrument svenska exportföretag använder sig av vidinternationell handel för att säkra sig mot valutarisker, samt undersöka om det skiljer sig i hur företag av olika storlek hanterar dessa risker. För att besvara vår frågeställning genomfördes forskningen genom en kvalitativ studie där tre stycken energiföretaget av olika storlek intervjuades. I studien intervjuades även en expert inom området och genom en jämförelse av empirin samt tidigare forskning kunde det dras en slutsats. Undersökningens slutsats var att företagen använder sig av flera olika metoder och instrument vid hanteringen av valutarisker. Den typ avvalutarisk de främst är utsatta för är transaktionsexponeringar på samtliga företag. Studien visade också att det skiljde sig i hur företagen av olika storlek hanterar dessa risker, främst i form av antalet instrument företagen använde sig av. En annan slutsats som kunde göras med en jämförelse av tidigare teori är att swappar och terminer är vanliga instrument medan optioner är ett mindre använt instrument för företag vid valutasäkring.

There is a lack of research in the area of hedging future contracts, especially in illiquid or very volatile market conditions. It is important to understand the volatility of the oil and currency markets because reduced fluctuations in these markets could lead to better hedging performance. This study compared different hedging methods by using a hedging error metric, supplementing the Receding Horizontal Control and Stochastic Programming (RHCSP) method by utilizing the London Interbank Offered Rate with the Levy process. The RHCSP hedging method was investigated to determine if improved hedging error was accomplished compared to the Black-Scholes, Leland, and Whalley and Wilmott methods when applied on simulated, oil, and currency futures markets. A modified RHCSP method was also investigated to determine if this method could significantly reduce hedging error under extreme market illiquidity conditions when applied on simulated, oil, and currency futures markets. This quantitative study used chaos theory and emergence for its theoretical foundation. An experimental research method was utilized for this study with a sample size of 506 hedging errors pertaining to historical and simulation data. The historical data were from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2012. The modified RHCSP method was found to significantly reduce hedging error for the oil and currency market futures by the use of a 2-way ANOVA with a t test and post hoc Tukey test. This study promotes positive social change by identifying better risk controls for investment portfolios and illustrating how to benefit from high volatility in markets. Economists, professional investment managers, and independent investors could benefit from the findings of this study.

This paper has tested the efficiency, weak form according to EMH, of the currency future market. The efficiency test has been incorporated in the research question since the market has to be efficient in order for the future to work as predictor of the future spot rate - Can currency futures be used as a tool for predicting futures spot exchange rate? The two sub questions are - Is the prediction power of currency futures stable over time and is the prediction power of currency futures similar for different currencies?   The main theory in the research is the Efficient Market Hypothesis and the Random Walk Hypothesis. The research was conducted with a positivistic philosophy in conjunction with a realistic approach. Since the research question has been deducted from the theoretical framework the research has a deductive approach, a quantitative technique was adapted when the data at hand was mainly future and spot rate data.   Data on 13 currencies ranging from 2005 to 2010 was used. The prices were available in weekly intervals for all currencies except for the Brazilian real, Swiss frank and the Mexican peso. The statistical test that was used is the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test and the Phillips-Ouliaris cointegration test. The test was conducted on the whole timeframe. After that, the data was divided into three sub periods to show if the efficiency where different in the period before the crises (2005-2007), during the crises (2008-2009) and after the crises (2010). The test has also been done on annual and quarterly data to show if the length of the time period tested has an effect on efficiency. The PO test has been conducted on all data and the ADF test has been conducted on the whole timeframe and the sub periods.   The results show that, ten of the currencies which we had weakly data, the future is a good predictor of the future spot exchange rate. This is true when the tests are done on an interval of one year and more. For the three currencies that we had monthly data, the results showed cointegration on the whole timeframe. When shorter time periods were tested the currencies that consisted of monthly data showed no cointegration sooner than the weakly data. When test is done on quarterly data, only one test is cointegrated. It cannot concluded that, the future was not a good predictor for the future spot exchange rate during this time, merely that this particular test might be the true one and that the tests where not able to capture it. Several reasons for this are presented in the analysis chapter, where the statistical tests and their design are mentioned among other reasons.