M.Com. (Investment Management) / The study investigates the effects of final dividend announcements on the share prices of the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index for the period 2003-2012. A classical event study methodology was applied to test the data. Over the sample period the Abnormal Returns (AR), Average Abnormal Returns (AAR) and Cumulative Average Abnormal Returns (CAAR) were calculated. The final sample consisted of 13 companies that included 144 dividend announcement events. The results indicated that although dividend announcements seem to have a positive effect on share prices, the returns yielded from these effects are not significant and close to zero. Evidence relating to the dividend signalling hypothesis was also present in the South African market.

The agriculture industry has been around for hundreds of years. Although farmers and ranchers work every day to put food on the tables of billions of people from all around the world, most agricultural producers require assistance to finance their operations and continue production. This research is motivated by recent changes in interest rates and the downturn in agricultural commodity prices. This study examines how farm-level financial statements are impacted by changes in interest rates and agricultural commodity market prices. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to model several stochastic variables and derive key financial calculations. This study shows how the financial statements of different agricultural operations change due to factors that are largely beyond the control of agricultural producers.

Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Finance & Investment Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management Wits Business School University of Witwatersrand 2017 / The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to investigate whether or not there are both short run and long run bilateral linkages between the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) markets. Secondly, it aims to find out whether or not the extent of linkages between the two markets has been changing over time. The results of the study can be stated simply: - correlation coefficients calculated for the two sub-periods 1980(1)–1990(12) (apartheid in South Africa and independence in Zimbabwe, but still some controls on the economy) and 1991(1)–1999(12) (death of apartheid in South Africa and financial liberalization in Zimbabwe) show that they were not constant overtime. The extent of the linkage has been increasing overtime. Bivariate co-integration tests indicate that there is a common trend linking the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange stock price indices in the period 1991–1999, but none was found for the period 1980-1990. The results suggest that the interrelations between the two markets have increased overtime. They are in line with macroeconomic trends that have taken place since 1991, which were sufficient to strengthen the linkages between the markets, including capital market liberalization, securitization of national markets and a significant increase in cross - listing of stocks of multinational and national companies. This paper thus provides new empirical evidence on international stock market linkages between the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange / MT 2018

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has recently required auditors to disclose critical audit matters (CAMs), which are financial statement matters that involve especially challenging, subjective, or complex auditor judgments. The PCAOB contends that CAMs will increase the decision usefulness of the auditor’s report and indirectly benefit investors by increasing audit and financial reporting quality. I examine whether investors react to CAM disclosures and whether they perceive any change in adopting firms’ financial reporting quality. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find that (1) while there is no significant stock price reaction to CAMs on average, investors react negatively to CAMs disclosed by firms with high levels of short interest; (2) there is a significant increase in the quarterly earnings response coefficient for adopting firms. The effect is driven by big-N audit firms, and increases with the number of CAMs reported. Collectively, the evidence suggests that investors use CAMs to confirm their pre-existing opinions about a firm, and that they perceive an improvement in audit quality and financial reporting reliability due to the CAM disclosure requirement.

This thesis presents three distinct chapters that look at different challenges faced by advanced and emerging market economies. Given the issues explored in these chapters, I contribute to several strands of economic literature. Yet, each chapter is motivated by its policy relevance and is embedded in the issues advanced and emerging market countries face. Chapter 1 explores the impact of income inequality on domestic investment in resource-rich countries. Income inequality may affect investment through different mechanisms. For instance, it could distort incentives for domestic investment; high-income inequality may discourage investment in public goods since low-income non-investors may benefit more from the returns on investment. As a result, countries with higher income inequality are expected to contribute less to their domestic investment. To investigate the relationship between income inequality and domestic investment, I use the data for 57 resource-rich countries from 1982-2015. Due to endogenous relationships among variables, I use generalized method-of moments estimators that employ lagged regressors as instruments in the estimation. Using a variety of income inequality measures, I find a negative and significant relationship between these two economic indicators: income inequality and domestic investment. This result could help resource-rich countries achieve higher growth from their resource endowments. The second chapter studies the extent to which worldwide shocks can explain country-specific inflation fluctuations. My benchmark model proxy world shocks with shocks to commodity prices. First, using a factor model of commodity prices, I extract three leading factors characterizing their co-movement. Then, I use the commodity price factors in a structural vector autoregressive model to investigate the fraction of inflation fluctuations that commodity price shocks can explain. My estimation is based on the data for 67 advanced and emerging market economies from 1970-2014. Furthermore, I examine the impact of world shocks on inflation through additional mechanisms, such as changes in the world interest rate and the global economic activity index. Compared to the previous literature, I find the increased importance of world shocks in explaining country-specific inflation fluctuations. This result can guide policymakers in setting the relevant monetary policy to control or prevent inflationary pressures in an economy. Finally, the third chapter studies whether commodity price shocks matter for estimating the output gap. First, I apply the Beveridge and Nelson decomposition method and calculate the share explained by world shocks in the variance decomposition of the output gap. In my analysis, world shocks affect the output gap through commodity price indices and global economic factors. My study includes five advanced and ten emerging market economies from 1980-2018. Then, I investigate whether commodity price shocks can improve the accuracy of this estimation. To do this, I exclude commodity price indices from my model to estimate the output gap. Finally, I use output gaps estimated with and without commodity price indices in an inflation forecasting model to compare the forecast errors of predicted inflation. Using a forecast error test, I find that the estimated output gap using commodity price indices would provide better results in forecasting inflation than other output measures.

Participants in the agricultural marketing system include commodity producers, grain elevators, feed processors, flour millers, bakers, exporters, and retail outlets. Every firm in the marketing system is concerned with creating expectations regarding supply, demand, quality, and price in the physical market. The role of market information plays in the agricultural marketing system is considered in the three chapters of this thesis. Chapters 1 and 2 were completed with financial support from the Virginia Small Grains Board and the Virginia Agricultural Council. The futures market is used by a number of firms, private and public, to create price expectations. Firms rely on the futures market to provide market signals and manage risk. Chapter 1 examines what might happen in the soft red winter wheat marketing system if the price signals from the futures market become less accurate because Federal grades fail to account for all of the grain characteristics desired by millers and bakers. Expected returns from competing crops are a factor in a producer's decision-making process. Chapter 2 examines the role first-level handlers play in expanding the market share of grain sorghum and barley in Virginia. The objective of the first-level handler survey was to determine if factors, such as limited market information, prevented the expansion of the grain sorghum and barley markets. Contrary to a priori expectations that price risk would be the limiting factor, results showed that inconsistent local supply was the main barrier to the expansion of grain sorghum and barley. Chapter 3 is an example of a pricing guide written for Virginia cotton producers. It uses a balance sheet approach, which illustrates how information regarding the cotton crop can be translated into price expectations. / Master of Science

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Light olefins are some of the main raw materials for the petrochemical industry. With the rise in oil prices and increasing demand for olefins, there is an increasing interest in finding cheaper alternatives for processes in the petrochemical industry (PETROSA 2017). Research into the dehydrogenation of light alkanes has received significant attention. This dehydrogenation process represents a route to obtain olefins from inexpensive hydrocarbon feedstocks. The use of inexpensive hydrocarbons as a feedstock in the petrochemical industry could reduce the dependence on oil. Commercially used catalysts based on chromium or platinum have major disadvantages, including the harmful effects of chromium and the high cost of platinum, which limit their application to a certain extent. Therefore, research into developing efficient dehydrogenation systems using environmentally friendly and inexpensive metals have become highly desirable. Sulfide-containing metal catalysts have gained significant research interest for use in the dehydrogenation process and display interesting catalytic activity. / 2024

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / This paper replicates Jegadeesh`s (1990) paper entitled “Evidence of Predictable Behavior of Security Returns”. Jegadeesh (1990) states that by using the observed systematic behaviour of stock returns it is possible to make “one-step-ahead return forecasts”. That is forecast the return one month in the future. The aim of this research is to assess the predictability of monthly returns on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) by analysing the monthly returns of stocks and portfolios of stocks from the JSE. This thesis will show that it is not possible to accurately or reliably forecast future returns for individual stocks or portfolios of stocks from the JSE. In addition the findings in this paper also indicate that stocks and portfolios of stocks from the JSE follow the random walk theory.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2015. / This study investigates key macro-economic variables that influence housing prices in South Africa. Impact of shocks to macro-economic variables on housing prices in the short run is analysed as well as the nature of the relationship between housing prices and seven macro-economic variables in the long run. Using quarterly data from 1978 (3rd quarter) to 2014 ( 1st quarter ) , the study shows that absa real house prices, rand/us$ exchange rate, household/debt disposable income, household net wealth/disposable income, new mortgage loans and prime interest rates have a long run equilibrium relationship. Macro-economic variables have a positive impact on house prices in the long run; household net wealth/disposable income and household debt/disposable income are leading variables in explanation of house price movements. Shocks to prime interest rates and rand/us$ exchange rate impact negatively on house prices in the short run.

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