Intro: 80 percent of the Swedish population own shares. This makes Sweden the leading country in private investment in securities. It can be difficult for the private investor to know where, when and which security to invest in. The strategies are as ambivalent as the stock markets fluctuations. If the investor prefers to refrain from investing money himself, there are brokers who carry out these types of services. Brokers use complex calculations and analytical tools to reach the best investment strategies. Their results are based on historic data from public information. According to the theory of the efficient market hypothesis, it is not possible to generate excessive returns on investments which are based on publicly available information. Purpose: The study aims to assess if stock recommendations published in a business newspaper have any value for investors, who hopes to generate high returns. Methodology: Since the data is quantitative, a deductive method is used to comprehend the results. Investments are divided into two fictive portfolios where one portfolio follows a passive investment strategy whilst in the other, active investments based on public information are made. A one-sample t-test is used to obtain the statistics for answering the hypothetical questions. Theoretical: The primary theory for the essay is the theory of efficient market hypothesis, perspectives but also passive investment strategies and the random walk hypothesis are being touched upon. Empirical: A study has been conducted of recommendations with the recomendations foundations found on DI.se between 01.01.2005 and 31.12.2006, as the study objects. Theprimary sources have been DI.se and the NASDAQ OMX. The results from the data are solely products of my own empirical findings. Conclusion: The results signify a large difference between a passive and an active investment strategy, although the statistical results indicates no significancy.

This thesis seeks to address three important issues relating to the efficient functioning of the Istanbul Stock Exchange. In particular the thesis seeks to answer the following questions 1. What makes markets informationally efficient or inefficient? 2. Has increased stock market volatility had an impact on the equity risk premium and the cost of equity capital to firms? and 3. How is it possible to reconcile the view that markets are weak form efficient and technical analysis is a pervasive activity in such markets? Unlike previous studies, this thesis seeks to examine the issue of efficiency when institutional features specific to the market under investigation are taken into account. Specifically, the thesis adopts a testing methodology which enables us to recognize possible non-linear behaviour, thin trading and institutional changes in testing market efficiency. The results from this investigation show that informationally efficient markets are brought about by improving liquidity, ensuring that investors have access to high quality and reliable information and minimising the institutional restrictions on trading. In addition, the results suggest that emerging markets may initially be characterised as inefficient but over time, with the right regulatory framework, will develop into efficient and effective markets. The second important issue to be examined in this thesis concerns the impact of regulatory changes on market volatility and the cost of equity capital to firms. It is not sufficient to simply examine whether volatility has increased following a fmancial market innovation such as changes in regulation. Rather, it is necessary to investigate why volatility has changed, if it has changed, and the impact of such a change on the equity risk premium and the cost of equity capital to firms. Only then can inferences be drawn about the desirability or otherwise of innovations which bring about increases in volatility. Surprisingly, these issues have not been addressed in the literature. The evidence presented here suggests that the innovations which have taken place in the ISE have increased volatility, but also improved the pricing efficiency of the market and reduced the cost of equity capital to firms. Finally, the thesis tries to identify the conditions under which weak-form efficiency is consistent with technical analysis. It is shown that this paradox can be explained if adjustments to information are not immediate, such that market statistics, in particular statistics on trading volume contain information not impounded in current prices. In this context technical analysis on volume can be viewed as part of the process by which traders learn about fundamentals. Therefore, the thesis investigates the issue whether studying the joint dynamics of stock prices and trading volume can be used to predict weakly efficient stock prices. In summary, the findings of this thesis will be of interest to international investors, stock market regulators, firms raising funds from stock markets and participants in emerging capital markets in general. The implication of the results presented here is that informational efficient emerging markets are brought about by improving liquidity, ensuring that investors have access to high quality and reliable information and minimising the institutional restrictions on trading. In addition, the evolution in the regulatory framework of, and knowledge and awareness of investors in, emerging markets may mean that they will initially be characterised by inefficiency, but over time will develop into informational efficient and effectively functioning markets which allocate resources efficiently. In addition, the results of this thesis have important implications, for emerging markets in general, in identifying the regulatory framework that will achieve efficient pricing and a reduction in the cost of equity capital to firms operating in the economy.

A sinalização, formação e descoberta de preços agrícolas são adequadas se refletem rapidamente todas as informações recebidas pelos seus participantes. Então, quando o mercado é eficiente, possibilita eficiência alocativa, redução de imprecisão nas decisões dos agentes e dos custos informacionais. Entretanto, os agentes do agronegócio podem tomar decisões errôneas de produção, comercialização e estocagem, sujeitas ao conjunto de informações incompletas contidas nos preços passados, se os mercados forem não eficientes. Nesse contexto, o objetivo geral foi analisar a eficiência dos mercados futuros de commodities. Para atingi-lo, estruturou-se esta pesquisa em três ensaios. No primeiro, objetivou-se testar a hipótese de passeio aleatório a contratos futuros agropecuários negociados na BM&FBOVESPA. Refutá-la significa possível previsibilidade e, por conseguinte, os mercados não seriam fracamente eficientes. Correlações seriais e testes de razão de variância foram utilizados para verificá-las. Os resultados deram suporte à hipótese de passeio aleatório nos mercados futuros de café e da soja, eficientes na forma fraca, e evidências contrárias foram encontradas nos mercados do boi gordo, milho e etanol. No segundo, o objetivo foi investigar a eficiência e formações de clusters nos contratos futuros do complexo soja (soja, farelo de soja e óleo de soja) negociados nas bolsas de commodities: argentina, brasileira, chinesa, indiana, japonesa, norte-americana e sul-africana. Com base na métrica obtida por distância euclidiana de razões de variância, evidenciaram-se dependências similares dos mercados, as quais podem ser interpretadas como efeito espraiamento da eficiência informacional. Os agentes devem, portanto, manter percepções em relação aos diversos mercados devido às sinalizações interdependentes dos preços. No terceiro, objetivou-se analisar a eficiência dos mercados futuros agropecuários brasileiros, sob a hipótese adaptativa de mercado. Utilizando propostas recentes à não linearidade e razão de variância, encontrou-se que as elevadas rejeições à hipótese de diferença martingal se encontram nos mercados em que as intervenções governamentais se fazem presentes: milho e etanol. Nos mercados de café, boi gordo e soja ocorreram menores rejeições à hipótese martingal e, portanto, houve maior eficiência informacional. Essas evidências--consistentes com a hipótese adaptativa dos mercados--justificam operações de hedge dinâmicas, bem como a gerência de carteiras de investimentos de forma ativa. / Agricultural prices\' formation, discovery and signalling only are accurate when they can rapidly reflect all new information faced by its market agents. Thereby, when a given market is efficient, it allows for allocative efficiency, reducing inefficiencies both in decision-making process and in informational costs. On the other hand, when markets are said not to be efficient, agribusinesses\' agents can make mistaken production, marketing and storage decisions, once such decisions are due to incomplete information contained in past prices. In this context, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the efficiency in future markets of commodities. In order to achieve its final goal, the study has been structured in three essays. In the first essay, the random walk hypothesis has been tested for agricultural future contracts from Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange (BMF&BOVESPA). Refusing the hypothesis for a given commodity implies some degree of predictability, therefore inconsistent even with a weak notion of efficiency. These tests were carried out using serial correlations and variance ratios. The results show the presence of random walks in coffee and soybean future markets, and contrary evidences (absence of random walks) in live cattle, corn and ethanol future markets. In the second essay, it has been analyzed the efficiency and the presence of clusters in the soybean complex future contracts (soybean, soybean meal and soybean oil) traded in the following future markets: Argentina (MTB), Brazil (BVMF), China (DCE), India (NCD), Japan (TKT), US (CBT) and South-Africa (SAF). Based on the metrics obtained by Euclidian distances of variance ratios, similar dependencies have been found for all markets, which suggest informational efficiency spreading. Agents, therefore, shall maintain perceptions over several international markets, given the interdependence found for prices in distinct future markets. In the third one, the adaptive market hypothesis has been tested for agricultural future markets in Brazil. Applying more recent approaches to Nonlinearity and Variance Ratio tests, high rejections to martingale difference hypothesis took place in agricultural markets which governmental interference is highly persistent, i.e., corn and ethanol. In coffee, live cattle and soybeans markets, weaker rejections to the martingale hypothesis hint higher informational efficiency. These evidences, consistent with the adaptive market hypothesis, justify dynamic hedge operations, as well as an active management of investment portfolios in such markets.

Thesis deals with analysis and interpretation of movements of share rates in the view of behavioral finance. It examines how investor psychology, as one man, and the characteristics of the crowd and their influence on the behavior of the markets. This work represents some of the theoretical concepts of behavioral finance, which are contrary to the postulates of the theory of efficient markets, as well as empirical evidence on market anomalies that serve as the basis of arguments advocates of behavioral finance. The theoretical parts are dismembered some of the main influences acting on the psychology of investors, with a strong emphasis on the scarcity of arbitration, and some selected problems of the theory. In the practical part in the three experiments proven results confirming the interpretation of behavioral finance.

This master´s thesis deals with testing the efficiency of capital markets. The subject to verification of the stock markets of Austria, Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, Czech Republic and Poland during the 2006-2016Q1. The aim of this work is to test the weak formo f efficiency in these markets. The hypothesis was tested using the ACF test ADF and KPSS tests, variance ratio test, run test and test of January effect.

The primary purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of the market reaction to stock recommendations published by Swedish banks. The market price reactions will also be compared to the OMXSPI index to analyse if it is possible to earn higher returns by following the recommendations. Previous studies suggest that the effect of stock recommendations leads to higher trading volumes and returns. While previous studies suggest that there is an effect, the effect from stock recommendation is not long lasting. The data collected consist of 659 stock recommendations from the biggest banks in Sweden. The results of the paper are in line with previous studies on the subject. The results suggest that buy recommendations lead to increased trading volumes and returns on the publication day. We also find that the cumulative average return from the recommendations is slightly higher than the index on the publication date. / Huvudsakliga syftet med denna studie är att undersöka marknadsreaktioner på aktierekommendationer utgivna av svenska banker. Syftet är även att jämföra marknadens prisreaktioner med OMXSPI index för att undersöka huruvida avkastningen från rekommendationerna överträffar index. Tidigare forskning har visat att aktierekommendationer leder till högre avkastning och högre handelsvolym. Effekten är däremot inte bestående på längre sikt. Datainsamlingen innehåller 659 aktierekommendationer från storbankerna i Sverige. Resultatet av studien ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. Resultatet visar att köprekommendationer leder till att avkastningen och handelsvolymen ökar i genomsnitt på kort sikt. Studien finner även att den kumulativa avkastningen från rekommendationerna är något högre än index på publiceringsdagen.

This paper examines the efficiency of the Swedish stock market, specifically the Large cap list of the Stockholm stock exchange. This is achieved by implementing the relative strength method of investing during the decade of 2010-2020 and evaluate the results in contrast to the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The relative strength method applied in this paper is the similar strategy that Jagadeesh & Titman (1993) utilized. In short, the strategy is based on buying the historically best performing stocks whilst selling short the previous worst performers. Additionally, the risks associated with the method were examined with the risk measurements of the Jensen Alpha and the Modigliani risk-adjusted performance. The results indicate that the relative strength method is unable to consistently generate above-market returns, so that the study is unable to reject the Efficient Market Hypothesis. In addition, the relative strength method is unable to justify the risks associated.

<p>Bakgrund: Finns det verkligen en investeringsstrategi som ger en garanterad överavkastning och som skulle kunna innebära att efterfrågan på de tjänster som professionella kapitalförvaltare tillhandahåller försvinner?</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka huruvida det går att generera överavkastning på Stockholmsbörsen genom att investera i en portfölj enbart innehållande aktier med låga P/Etal. Frågan är alltså om det existerar det någon så kallad P/E-talseffekt?</p><p>Genomförande: P/E-talseffekten testades genom att vi för var och en av våra 28 perioder fr.o.m. 1991 t.o.m.2004 skapade två portföljer där den ena innehöll aktier med de femton lägsta P/E-talen på Stockholmsbörsen och den andra innehöll aktier med höga P/E-tal. Den låga P/E-talsportföljen riskjusterade avkastning jämfördes sedan med den höga P/Etalsportföljens. En jämförelse gjordes även med den riskjusterade avkastningen för AFGX och SIXRX.</p><p>Slutsats: Vi har efter att noggrant analyserat våra resultat kunnat fastställa med 95 procent sannolikhet att det sett till hela vår undersökningsperiod, fr.o.m. 1991 t.o.m. 2004, inte går att påvisa en P/E-talseffekt på Stockholmsbörsen. Ser vi däremot enbart till perioderna efter ITbubblan, hösten 2000 till hösten 2003, kan vi med hjälp av våra resultat konstatera att det under denna period var möjligt att erhålla en överavkastning genom att investera i aktier med</p><p>låga P/E-tal.</p> / <p>Background: Is there an investment strategy that yields a guaranteed abnormal return and that could imply that the demand for the services provided by professional capital managers would disappear?</p><p>Purpose: The purpose with this thesis is to examine whether it is possible to generate an abnormal return at the Stockholm Stock Exchange by investing in a portfolio that only contains stocks with low P/E ratios. The question is consequently if there exists a so called P/E effect.</p><p>Implementation: We tested the P/E effect by creating two portfolios for each of our 28 periods from the beginning of 1991 until the end of 2004. The first portfolio included stocks with the fifteen lowest P/E ratios on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and the other portfolio included stocks with high P/E ratios. The risk adjusted return of the low P/E ratio portfolio was then compared to that of the high P/E ratio portfolio. A comparison was also made with the risk adjusted return from AFGX and SIXRX.</p><p>Conclusion: We can, after a thorough analysis of our results, with 95 per cent probability say that a P/E effect didn’t existed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange if we look at our entire research period from the beginning of 1991 until the end of 2004. We can however say that it was possible to generate an abnormal return by investing in stocks with low P/E ratios, if we look solely at the periods after the IT bubble, fall 2000 until fall 2003.</p>

Background: Low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to market ratio and low stock prices can give the impression that a stock is “cheap”. Is it through systematic use of these portfolio strategies possible to beat the market index – in other words does financial illusions exist? Purpose: To examine if the Stockholm Stock Exchange is an efficient market. Limitations: The efficiency is tested solely through the chosen portfolio strategies: low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to-market ratio and low stock prices. The research only includes stocks listed on the A-, O-, OTC- and Attract40 lists during the period 1998-01-01 to 2001-12-31. Methodology: With CAPM as an equilibrium model we are examining if the P/e, Book-to-market or the stock price portfolios generate systematic overperformance in comparision to the market index SIXRX. Significance tests on the 5 % level have been performed to determine if the returns are significantly separated from zero. Results: We can establish that none of the chosen portfolio strategies generated any significant systematic overperformance.

<p>Background: Low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to market ratio and low stock prices can give the impression that a stock is “cheap”. Is it through systematic use of these portfolio strategies possible to beat the market index – in other words does financial illusions exist? </p><p>Purpose: To examine if the Stockholm Stock Exchange is an efficient market. Limitations: The efficiency is tested solely through the chosen portfolio strategies: low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to-market ratio and low stock prices. The research only includes stocks listed on the A-, O-, OTC- and Attract40 lists during the period 1998-01-01 to 2001-12-31. Methodology: With CAPM as an equilibrium model we are examining if the P/e, Book-to-market or the stock price portfolios generate systematic overperformance in comparision to the market index SIXRX. Significance tests on the 5 % level have been performed to determine if the returns are significantly separated from zero. </p><p>Results: We can establish that none of the chosen portfolio strategies generated any significant systematic overperformance.</p>