Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / The subject of this study posits the profitability of an investment strategy focused on high-dividend yielding securities from the South African stock market over the period of 10 years from 2002 to 2012. The study follows an expected dividend yield model, similar to the model proposed by Hsu and Lin (2010), for the construction of a high-dividend yielding portfolio. Financial data of listed companies’ dividends and other financial information is used to estimate these expected current dividend yields by employing multiple regression analysis. It is suggested that these expected yields better reflect companies’ future profitability than traditional current dividend yields. The results of the study show that the performance differences between the portfolios based on the expected dividend yield model and the benchmark portfolios are significant; however the tests of the model suggest that the model is not a good fit for the data.

A 50% dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce at the University of Witwatersrand. / Information asymmetry creates a gap between management’s perception of the firm’s value and the market value of the firm. It is thought that management engage in information signalling activities in order to close the gap created by information asymmetry. There is a need to understand why management engage in their chosen transactions as this will provide investors with insight into market activities, as well as allow for more accurate investment strategies. While research is available on the market’s reactions to signalling events, the problem is whether management’s intentions have been correctly interpreted by the market. The starting point to gaining this understanding is to ask the question: What signals do management send when they issue and repurchase shares? This study attempts to answer this question by investigating whether companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) issue shares because management perceive their market values to be overvalued and repurchase shares because their market values are undervalued. For the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2012, a total of 295 share issue announcements are considered for 102 companies; and a total of 183 share repurchase announcements are considered for 83 companies. The results of this study reveal that managerial equity market timing may exist in the presence of excess returns, where management are better able to predict returns in advance than the market. However, there is also evidence suggesting share repurchases are made to return excess cash to shareholders and issues and repurchases decisions are linked to capital structure planning. The fact that there are other potential reasons for share issues and repurchases, means that the market must be able to determine what the real intentions of management are when shares are issued and repurchased; and hence determine whether their intentions suggest equity market mispricing.

Thesis (M.M.(Finance & Investment)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016 / Co-location on the JSE took place on the 14th of May 2014. This dissertation looks at the impact this event has had on the market. In order to measure the effects of colocation, market quality factors are examined before and after the event to see whether there were any significant changes. A regression is then undertaken to see the correlation between co-location, liquidity and volatility. Our results suggest that colocation benefits market liquidity but we are unable to assess the relationship with volatility. This means that the growing liquidity in the market can be used to attract more institutions and firms wishing to run trading algorithms and strategies. Trades originally meant for dark pools can be now traded on the JSE co-location servers. By moving trades from dark pools to co-location servers at the JSE and encouraging institutions to use these facilities, transparency can be increased. Exchanges should implement kill switches if it is apparent that they are being impaired or flooded with erroneous orders. The deployment of kill switches, circuit breakers and other system compliance will improve investor confidence and market stability. Subsequent research can lead to better understanding by investigating the correlation between colocation and volatility. / MT 2018

This dissertation concerns the development of market information technologies in the London Stock Exchange, c. 1945-1992. Based on archival research in London, Cambridge and Edinburgh, and 20 semistructured interviews with former technologists, brokers, and marketmakers, my dissertation identifies the social, technological and institutional factors that allowed dealings in bonds and equities to move off the trading floor of the Stock Exchange and onto competing electronic platforms. My dissertation utilises the history of market information technologies as an occasion for producing a multi-layered analysis of the material, social, and regulatory transformations of finance in the City of London between c. 1945 and the mid 1990s. In particular, my dissertation deals with the rise of the so-called ‘information age’ in relation to British finance. The analysis is carried out in three parts, each tackling a specific ‘myth’ on the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary finance. The first part (chapters 3-4) deals with the dematerialisation of finance, demonstrating the often ignored character of technologies, materialities and their associated expertise in the constitution of the market. The second part (chapter 5) deconstructs the concept of disintermediation by analysing the social history of broking and jobbing in post-war City of London. Specifically, this part argues that changes in financial practices amongst the membership of the Stock Exchange were neither determined by the adoption of computers nor defined by a pre-existing culture of gentlemanly capitalism. Rather, they derived from the adaptation of market participants to a changing economic and social environment. The third part of this thesis (chapter 6) engages with deregulation. In particular, it provides an account of three broad patterns of financial regulation in Britain and the emergence of the current understanding of financial markets as manageable entities. The dissertation finalises by exploring the role of ‘informational metaphors’ in mediating the practices, materialities and regulations of the London Stock Exchange.

本論文研究目標為：1. 描述台灣股票市場中訂單簿（order book）的若干特徵。2. 分析訂單流 (order flow) 與訂單簿間交互作用的均衡關係。 3. 探討流動性消耗者與流動性提供者如何進出市場而維持市場機能。 本研究資料來自台灣證券交易所。台灣股市的市場結構迥異於世界其他大部分的市場，採取自動化、間斷時間 (auto-electronic, periodic call) 的撮和方式：單子全部集合在交易所的電腦系統中，依照價格優先、時間優先的原則，每隔45至60秒批次執行撮和。Handa及Schwartz (1996年) 指出，這種市場結構和其他連續撮和的市場有著根本上的不同，尤其是訂單流的匯總方式與市場結清價的形成過程，但目前較少有研究提及。 在過去的文獻中，1995年Biais、Hillion及Spatt以巴黎股市中CAC 40指數的成分股為樣本，首開訂單流與訂單簿間交互作用的研究。他們直接觀察並描繪訂單在各價位的分佈情形，發現當買賣價差 (bid-ask spread) 比較大或訂單簿比較薄（亦即市場流動性較差）時，接下來會有比較多的限價單(limit orders)進場提供流動性；相反地，當spread比較小的時候，接下來會有比較多的市價單(market orders)進場消耗流動性。雖然他們有注意到買賣單、限價單、市價單對價格推升或壓低的作用，但對於引發這些變化的因素卻沒有進一步的闡釋。 1998年，Handa、Schwartz及Tiwari清楚地指出，短暫價格波動 (short-term volatility) 在促進市場達到流動性均衡方面扮演關鍵的角色。由於有基於流動性動機而進場的投資人，此時市價單與限價單成交所造成的短暫價格波動正好補償限價單交易者所面臨的資訊不對稱風險，吸引限價單進場並提供流動性；而有立即性(immediacy)需求的投資人就會下市價單而消耗流動性。1999年，Foucault把Handa等人的推論發展為賽局模型，強化下單決策與價格形成的理論，並建議以訂單流的組成成分進行實證。 這些理論在2000年Ahn、Bae和Chan發表的研究中獲得實證的支持。該文以市場深度差作為市價單限價單組成成分的代理變數，首先驗證短暫價格波動的確是使市場達流動性均衡的重要因素：當價格向上波動，將吸引限價單流入市場提供流動性；而流動性的增加將減緩價格的波動。並進一步分析價格形成過程，發現若價格波動由賣方引發，則限價賣單為流動性提供者；若價格波動來自買方，則限價買單為流動性提供者。 本研究不同於前述研究之處，其一在於台灣股票市場結構的不同。因為所有的單子，不論是新進入或殘留的、不論是買還是賣，全部都集合在電腦系統中等待撮和，因此限價單不見得是流動性提供者，市價單也不見得是流動性消耗者。其二在於直接觀察訂單分佈情形，比Biais等人更深入研究訂單變化、比Ahn等人更清楚地分析變化的過程。 本論文將市場中的單子區分為新委託單(new orders)、殘留單(stale orders)及成交單(executed orders)三大類，取得每個撮和時點前、後買賣雙方在各價位的分佈和變化情形。結果發現，大部分的新委託單並沒有立即成交（約40%沒有立即成交）；成交單中殘留單與新委託單成交的比例在任何時間區間都遠高於新委託單互相成交的比例。也就是說，殘留單對市場流動性的均衡扮演關鍵的角色。

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

No description available.

This study tests the Arbitrage Pricing Theory on the Johannesburg stock Exchange (JSE). Following the McElroy and Burmeister (1988) approach of pre-specifying a factor structure to be tested, a possible set of factors was selected on the basis of a priori theoretical and empirical evidence that they could affect share prices. All combinations of these factors were separately tested against mining and industrial shares listed on the JSE. Two sets of tests were performed, firstly, a multivariate nonlinear regression with cross-equation restrictions as a test of the APT model and secondly, a seemingly unrelated regression model. The APT test results for mining shares show that the model with gold price risk and residual market risk and the model with growth rate risk and residual market risk had the highest adjusted-R2 values. However these factors were not priced APT factors since they were not significantly different from zero. Two one-factor models yielded priced APT factors. These were the model including the gold price risk and another model with growth rate risk. Whilst these were both priced APT factors, the gold price risk model was better fitted. Four models were selected from the APT tests on industrial shares, on the basis of high adjusted-R2 values and factors which were significantly different from zero. They included the following risk factors: gold price risk and residual market risk; foreign exchange risk and residual market risk; inflation risk and residual market risk; default premium risk, gold price risk and residual market risk. The seemingly unrelated regression models had very similar adjusted-R2 values and indicated that the APT did not appear to explain the variation in share returns any better or worse than the seemingly unrelated regression model. The adjusted-R2 values for individual shares and the signs of the factor risk-premiums appear to be reasonable. The residual market risk factor was significantly different from zero for both the mining and industrial share samples, indicating that further work is required to identify the APT factors operating on the JSE. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

Corporate disclosures play an important role in the capital market in passing on information to the relevant parties outside companies. Corporate information is useful because it can be used to assess businesses, update subjective estimations, and make effective decisions on the investment of resources. Analysts are considered major users of corporate information. Analysts are important in the sense that they are intermediaries who receive and process financial information for investors. The major tasks of analysts are to collect company information from various sources, analyse company performance, make earnings forecasts, and arrive at buy/hold/sell recommendations. As analysts intensely use financial information in their decision-making processes to reach decisions, the nature of their work is influenced by the quality of the information they use. / This thesis aims to provide evidence of the usefulness and relevance of voluntary disclosures to analysts' recommendation revisions. The study examines whether there is a relationship between voluntary disclosures and analysts' recommendations by observing what characteristics of voluntary disclosures are associated with the nature of analysts' recommendation revisions and the extent of that association. / The focus of the research is on changes in analyst recommendations and the new information disclosures that a company has made public since the previous revision. Company voluntary disclosures are observed from selected sources including company announcements, news and press releases, and annual reports. Analyst recommendation revisions are collected from the I/B/E/S recommendation history database, and these revisions are matched with the presence of voluntary disclosures during the change period. The nature of recommendation revisions are observed via four different measures: direction of change, magnitude of change, type of new recommendation and level of rating. Three research instruments are required for measuring the characteristics of voluntary disclosures; (1) content analysis methods used with company announcements and news to evaluate aspects of the narrative in terms of topic, favourability, and price-sensitivity, (2) a disclosure index used to measure information quantity in annual reports, and (3) a readability index used to measure quality of presentation. The use of alternative measures of recommendation revision, together with measures of both the quantity and quality of voluntary disclosures leads to the formulation of a number of subsidiary hypotheses for testing in this study. / Based on a sample of over 200 recommendation revisions of 40 listed Australian companies, the results suggest that voluntary disclosures do help to explain the variations in analyst recommendation revisions. The results reveal that the quantity of disclosures and readability scores are positively associated with the number of recommendation revisions, and that disclosures with favourable signals or with price-sensitive contents are significantly related to the direction and type of analyst revisions. In addition, disclosure of specific themes (e.g., dividend and product) in company announcements and news are significantly associated with the recommendation change. Readability scores also exhibit a significant positive relationship with the direction of change, suggesting that there is a relationship between the readability level of company announcements and recommendation revisions. However, no significant evidence is found between disclosure scores and the properties of recommendation revisions. / The findings have implications for both the formulation of accounting policies and the regulation of financial disclosures: knowledge of the key themes of disclosures which are associated with recommendation revisions might induce companies to adapt their disclosure strategy; regulators might also wish to pay more attention to such disclosures and their ability to meet the decision making needs of users. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1923.