The purpose of the thesis aims to investigate pair trading strategies which are frequently used by hedge funds adopting non-directional strategies. It is also our intention to develop a set of streamlined operational guidelines for pair trading strategy to be implemented in the Taiwan securities markets. Daily closing prices of listed stocks are used. The database is compiled by Taiwan Economic Journal, covering companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the GreiTai Market in Taiwan. The company-pairs are selected from firms listed on the same market, conducting business in the same product field, and with sample correlation coefficient higher than 0.7. We choose 10 sample company-pairs covering 20 listed companies. The trading strategies mix both divergence and convergence rules. For the former, when the price ratio of the pair exceeds the moving average price ratio plus (minus) 0.3 standard deviation, we buy the strong and short the weak to anticipate the price ratio trend continues. For the latter, when the price ratio goes beyond the moving average price ratio plus (minus) 1.7 standard deviations, we buy the weak and short the strong, anticipating the price ratio to go back to normal. The exit rules are based on absolute dollar profit, absolute dollar loss, and prolonged position period. The research results show that the pair trading strategies are not risk-free. Risk arises when the price ratio trend runs adversely than as expected. To control the risk, our challenges lie in fine tuning the entry and exit rules. With larger sample size and more in-depth investigation, we expect that the profit/loss ratio of the stragtegy can be improved. Then the pair trading strategy will become a good alternative for conservative individual investors seeking low risk investment opportunities to participate in the securities markets in Taiwan.

Present value based asset pricing models are explored empirically in this thesis. Three contributions are made. First, it is shown that a market timing strategy may be implemented in an excessively volatile market such as the S&P500. The main premise of the strategy is that asset prices may revert to the present value over time. The present value is computed in real-time where the present value variables (future dividends, dividend growth and the discount factor) are forecast from simple models. The strategy works well for monthly data and when dividends are forecast from autoregressive models. The performance of the strategy relies on how discount rates are empirically defined. When discount rates are defined by the rolling and recursive historic average of realized returns, the strategy performs well. The discount rate and dividend growth can also be derived using a structural approach. Using the Campbell and Shiller log-linearized present value equation, and assuming that expected and realized dividend growth are unit related, a state space model is constructed linking the price-dividend ratio to expected returns and expected dividend growth. The model parameters are estimated from the data and, are used to derive the filtered expected returns and expected dividend growth series. The present value is computed using the filtered series. The trading rule tends to perform worse in this case. Discount rates are again found to be the major determinant of its success. Although the structural approach offers a time series of discount rates which is less volatile, it is on average higher than that of the historical mean model. The filtered expected returns is a potential predictor of realized returns. The predictive performance of expected returns is compared to that of the price-dividend ratio. It is found that expected returns is not superior to the price-dividend ratio in forecasting returns both in-sample and out-of-sample. The predictive regression included both simple Ordinary Least Squares and Vector Autoregressions. The second contribution of this thesis is the modeling of expected returns using autoregressive fractionally integrated processes. According to the work of Granger and Joyeux(1980), aggregated series which are derived from utility maximization problems follow a Beta distribution. In the time series literature, it implies that the series may have a fractional order (I(d)). Autoregressive fractionally models may have better appeal than models which explicitly posit unit roots or no unit roots. Two models are presented. The first model, which incorporates an ARFIMA(p,d,q) within the present value through the state equations, is found to be highly unstable. Small sample size may be a reason for this finding. The second model involves predicting dividend growth from simple OLS models, and sequentially netting expected returns from the present value model. Based on the previous finding that expected returns may be a long memory process, the third contribution of this thesis derives a test of long memory based on the asymptotic properties of the variance of aggregated series in the context of the Geweke Porter-Hudak (1982) semiparametric estimator. The test makes use of the fact that pure long memory process will have the same autocorrelation across observations if the observations are drawn at repeated intervals to make a new series. The test is implemented using the Sieve-AR bootstrap which accommodates long range dependence in stochastic processes. The test is relatively powerful against both linear and nonlinear specifications in large samples.

This thesis investigates the pricing (or mispricing) of earnings quality in Australia. It investigates whether information in earnings quality is used by investors in valuing firms, evidenced by an association between earnings quality and the cost of equity. In the alternate form, the question may be posed as whether earnings quality is mispriced by investors such that there may be opportunities to earn abnormal profits from trading strategies based on earnings quality. Ten earnings quality constructs are studied: total accruals, unexpected accruals, cash-to-profit, accrual quality, persistence, predictability, smoothness, relevance, conservatism and timeliness. In the cost of equity pricing tests, when earnings quality is proxied using one construct (accrual quality), it is found to be associated with the cost of equity. However, when the additional nine constructs are included in the regression models, accrual quality loses statistical significance. Various other constructs are found to be associated with the cost of equity depending on the choice of the cost of equity proxy. In the trading strategy tests, there is some initial evidence of trading strategy opportunities for firms with high quality earnings. However, after deleting outlier observations with annual buy-and-hold returns of greater than 200% the potential for earning abnormal returns from a hedge portfolio strategy disappears. The existence of Australian evidence on the accruals anomaly provides a convenient basis to validate the results of the earnings quality trading strategy tests. Although no clear evidence on the accruals anomaly is found, results are obtained which appear to be consistent with prior Australian evidence of the accruals anomaly, depending on the research design choices made. Overall, the evidence on whether earnings quality is priced or mispriced in Australia is best viewed as inconclusive. It highlights the importance of conducting thorough robustness tests and suggests a need for caution by researchers in making inferences from a narrow set of earnings quality constructs and research design specifications.

This thesis investigates the pricing (or mispricing) of earnings quality in Australia. It investigates whether information in earnings quality is used by investors in valuing firms, evidenced by an association between earnings quality and the cost of equity. In the alternate form, the question may be posed as whether earnings quality is mispriced by investors such that there may be opportunities to earn abnormal profits from trading strategies based on earnings quality. Ten earnings quality constructs are studied: total accruals, unexpected accruals, cash-to-profit, accrual quality, persistence, predictability, smoothness, relevance, conservatism and timeliness. In the cost of equity pricing tests, when earnings quality is proxied using one construct (accrual quality), it is found to be associated with the cost of equity. However, when the additional nine constructs are included in the regression models, accrual quality loses statistical significance. Various other constructs are found to be associated with the cost of equity depending on the choice of the cost of equity proxy. In the trading strategy tests, there is some initial evidence of trading strategy opportunities for firms with high quality earnings. However, after deleting outlier observations with annual buy-and-hold returns of greater than 200% the potential for earning abnormal returns from a hedge portfolio strategy disappears. The existence of Australian evidence on the accruals anomaly provides a convenient basis to validate the results of the earnings quality trading strategy tests. Although no clear evidence on the accruals anomaly is found, results are obtained which appear to be consistent with prior Australian evidence of the accruals anomaly, depending on the research design choices made. Overall, the evidence on whether earnings quality is priced or mispriced in Australia is best viewed as inconclusive. It highlights the importance of conducting thorough robustness tests and suggests a need for caution by researchers in making inferences from a narrow set of earnings quality constructs and research design specifications.

This paper investigates the impact of dividend reduction announcements on the returns to stocks listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. We perform an event study on dividend cutting firms between 2002-2016 to determine if contrarian trading on the basis of negative dividend announcement yields abnormal returns. We evaluate the immediate market reaction during a three-day event window surrounding dividend announcements. Thereafter we test a contrarian trading strategy by examining abnormal returns during a holding period up to twenty days following the initial event. We evaluate the results in reference to previous literature on post earnings (dividend) announcement drift and contrarian investment strategies. The findings suggest that the initial market reaction to dividend cuts is negative, but that the abnormal returns to buying stock following dividend reduction announcements are negligible. Furthermore, we argue that there might be means of increasing these returns by supplementary analysis of firm specifics.

This thesis studies the momentum trading strategies, in which investors buy stocks that performed well in the past and sell stocks that underperformed over the same peiord of time. We examine the momentum strategies from January of 1995 to September of 2006. This thesis has two purposes. First, do the momentum trading strategies generate positive abnormal returns ? Second, do the momentum trading strategies generate positive abnormal returns even after we consider the limits of short-selling stocks ? The results indicate that the momentum trading strategies generate significant positive returns. Furthermore, the momentum trading strategies still offer positive abnormal returns even after the limits of short-selling shares are taken into account, although the magnitude of positive abnormal returns decreases.

We examine the potential gains of using exchange rate forecast models and forecast combination methods in the management of currency portfolios for three exchange rates: the euro versus the US dollar, the British pound, and the Japanese yen. We use a battery of econometric specifications to evaluate whether optimal currency portfolios implied by trading strategies based on exchange rate forecasts outperform single currencies and the equally weighted portfolio. We assess the differences in profitability of optimal currency portfolios for different types of investor preferences, two trading strategies, mean squared error-based composite forecasts, and different forecast horizons. Our results indicate that there are clear benefits of integrating exchange rate forecasts from state-of-the-art econometric models in currency portfolios. These benefits vary across investor preferences and prediction horizons but are rather similar across trading strategies.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Empirical research is done to determine whether trading strategies based on technical analysis can outperform a naive buy-and-hold strategy. A study is made of classical and contemporary academic literature. The central investigation is threefold. Firstly, the degree of randomness of a chosen basket of securities is determined vis-a-vis the Random Walk Hypothesis. Secondly, the effectiveness of stop loss orders is assessed. Lastly, a collection of chosen trading strategies is back-tested on security data ranging over 20 years. Performance of these systems is measured on net average and risk-adjusted gains in the absence of transaction and taxation costs. The finding of this report is that, in the absence of these costs, certain technical trading strategies can indeed outperform a buy-and-hold strategy. Although end-of-day data is used throughout the study, the techniques can also be applied to intra-day trading. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Empiriese navorsing is gedoen om te bepaal of handelstrategiee wat op tegniese ontleding gebaseer is, beter kan presteer as 'n klassieke konserwatiewe koop-en-hou-strategie. Omvattende literatuurstudie is gedoen van klassieke en kontemporere literatuur, en die kruks van die navorsing is drieledig. Eerstens word die toevalligheidsgraad van 'n gekose aandelepakket ten opsigte van die hipotese van ewekansigce koersbeweging bepaal. Tweedens word die effektiwiteit van "stop-verlies" opdragte ontleed en laastens word 'n versameling historiese handelstrategiee getoets met die laaste 20 jaar se aandeledata. Die prestasie van die onledingstelsels word gemeet aan die hand van die netto gemiddelde en risiko aangepaste opbrengste met uitsluiting van die transaksie en belasting kostes. Die bevinding van die studie is dat met uitsluiting van die transakie en belasting kostes, die gebruik van tegniese ontledings inderdaad hoer opbrengste lewer as die klassieke koop-en-hou strategie. Alhoewel dag sluitingsdata deurlopend vir die studie gebruik was, kan die tegnieke ook op intradag data toegepas word.

<p><strong><p>Trading based on technical analysis has its roots in the U.S. financial industry where it has long been common practice, in Sweden however the trading style has not had the same impact. Based on the results from the preliminary study we believe this is about to change and that the topic therefore requires further studying. Several online stockbrokers today provide information and tools for technical analysis to their clients. As the list of indicators to use for creating strategies is so immense it is interesting for an investor to know what actually could be the basis for a profitable investment strategy. <strong><p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyze the returns from trading strategies, based on technical analysis, which professionals use when investing in Nordic shares. <strong><p>The strategies that will be studied are derived from a preliminary study that was carried out before any work on this study began. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine which strategies professionals use. The way we examine the different strategies is with a trading model built in Microsoft Excel which calculates buy and sell signals depending on which strategy is studied and then evaluates this in comparison with the buy and hold strategy. Testing has been carried out on 15 years of historical data on the most actively trades shares in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The data material was divided in five different periods which were tested separately and combined. The study included six trading strategies, six time periods and five countries and consequently tested 144 different combinations of phases, markets and strategies. <strong><p>We conclude that the results of our study are unambiguous as to how the investigated strategies performed in comparison with the buy and hold strategy. Overall there is a very small percentage of the studied strategies that generated excess returns in so many cases that the strategy might be considered to be good in the long term. There were clear differences between how strategies performed during different market trends, and when the strategies were tested on the entire data set which included both ups and downs there were no longer any clear connection to what strategies were viable. There were also some differences concerning the return of the various strategies but since they all performed so poorly none of them should be recommended to an investor. The study also shows that there is no big difference in how the strategies performed on the different Nordic markets.</p></strong></p></strong></p></strong></p></strong></p> / <p><strong><p>Handel utifrån teknisk analys har sitt ursprung i den amerikanska finansbranschen där den länge varit vanligt förekommande, men Sverige har den inte haft samma genomslag. Vi anser, med förstudien som bakgrund att är på väg att förändras och därmed ett intressant ämne att studera vidare. Flera nätmäklare tillhandahåller idag information och verktyg för teknisk analys till sina kunder. Då det finns en uppsjö av verktyg att använda sig av är det intressant för en investerare att veta vilka som faktiskt kan ligga till grund för en lönsam investeringsstrategi.</p><p><strong>Denna studie syftar till att undersöka och analysera avkastningen från handelsstrategier, grundade på teknisk analys, som professionella aktörer använder sig av vid investeringsbeslut i enskilda nordisk aktier. <strong></strong></strong></p><p>De strategier som kommer studeras grundar sig på en förstudie som genomfördes innan arbetet med denna studie påbörjades. Syftet med förstudien var att ta reda på vilka strategier professionella aktörer använder sig av. Själva genomförandet av studien är uppbyggd kring en handelsmodell i Microsoft Excel som beräknar köp- och säljsignaler beroende på vilken strategi som testas och sedan utvärderar denna jämfört med buy and hold strategin. Tester har gjorts på 15 års historisk data för de mest omsatta aktierna i Sverige, Danmark, Finland och Norge. Tidsperioden delades in i fem faser vilka testades separat och dessutom testades hela perioden. Studien omfattade sex strategier och följaktligen testades 144 olika kombinationer av faser, marknader och strategi. <strong></strong></p><p>Vi kan konstatera att resultaten från vår studie är entydiga vad det gäller hur de undersökta strategierna presterade jämfört med buy and hold strategin. Sammantaget var de en liten andel som lyckades generera en överavkastning i så pass många fall att den strategin skall anses vara bra på lång sikt. Det fanns tydliga skillnader i hur de undersökta strategierna presterade under olika marknadstrender, men när strategierna testades på hela datamaterialet där det ingår både upp- och nedgångar fanns inte längre några tydliga samband för vilka strategier som var lönsamma. Det fanns även vissa skillnader gällande den avkastning som de olika strategierna genererade, men då samtliga presterade så pass dåligt bör en investera inte ägna sig åt någon av dem. Vidare visar studien på att det inte är några större skillnader mellan de nordiska marknaderna när det kommer till hur väl de olika strategierna presterar.</p></strong></p>

Trading based on technical analysis has its roots in the U.S. financial industry where it has long been common practice, in Sweden however the trading style has not had the same impact. Based on the results from the preliminary study we believe this is about to change and that the topic therefore requires further studying. Several online stockbrokers today provide information and tools for technical analysis to their clients. As the list of indicators to use for creating strategies is so immense it is interesting for an investor to know what actually could be the basis for a profitable investment strategy. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyze the returns from trading strategies, based on technical analysis, which professionals use when investing in Nordic shares. The strategies that will be studied are derived from a preliminary study that was carried out before any work on this study began. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine which strategies professionals use. The way we examine the different strategies is with a trading model built in Microsoft Excel which calculates buy and sell signals depending on which strategy is studied and then evaluates this in comparison with the buy and hold strategy. Testing has been carried out on 15 years of historical data on the most actively trades shares in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The data material was divided in five different periods which were tested separately and combined. The study included six trading strategies, six time periods and five countries and consequently tested 144 different combinations of phases, markets and strategies. We conclude that the results of our study are unambiguous as to how the investigated strategies performed in comparison with the buy and hold strategy. Overall there is a very small percentage of the studied strategies that generated excess returns in so many cases that the strategy might be considered to be good in the long term. There were clear differences between how strategies performed during different market trends, and when the strategies were tested on the entire data set which included both ups and downs there were no longer any clear connection to what strategies were viable. There were also some differences concerning the return of the various strategies but since they all performed so poorly none of them should be recommended to an investor. The study also shows that there is no big difference in how the strategies performed on the different Nordic markets. / Handel utifrån teknisk analys har sitt ursprung i den amerikanska finansbranschen där den länge varit vanligt förekommande, men Sverige har den inte haft samma genomslag. Vi anser, med förstudien som bakgrund att är på väg att förändras och därmed ett intressant ämne att studera vidare. Flera nätmäklare tillhandahåller idag information och verktyg för teknisk analys till sina kunder. Då det finns en uppsjö av verktyg att använda sig av är det intressant för en investerare att veta vilka som faktiskt kan ligga till grund för en lönsam investeringsstrategi. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka och analysera avkastningen från handelsstrategier, grundade på teknisk analys, som professionella aktörer använder sig av vid investeringsbeslut i enskilda nordisk aktier. De strategier som kommer studeras grundar sig på en förstudie som genomfördes innan arbetet med denna studie påbörjades. Syftet med förstudien var att ta reda på vilka strategier professionella aktörer använder sig av. Själva genomförandet av studien är uppbyggd kring en handelsmodell i Microsoft Excel som beräknar köp- och säljsignaler beroende på vilken strategi som testas och sedan utvärderar denna jämfört med buy and hold strategin. Tester har gjorts på 15 års historisk data för de mest omsatta aktierna i Sverige, Danmark, Finland och Norge. Tidsperioden delades in i fem faser vilka testades separat och dessutom testades hela perioden. Studien omfattade sex strategier och följaktligen testades 144 olika kombinationer av faser, marknader och strategi. Vi kan konstatera att resultaten från vår studie är entydiga vad det gäller hur de undersökta strategierna presterade jämfört med buy and hold strategin. Sammantaget var de en liten andel som lyckades generera en överavkastning i så pass många fall att den strategin skall anses vara bra på lång sikt. Det fanns tydliga skillnader i hur de undersökta strategierna presterade under olika marknadstrender, men när strategierna testades på hela datamaterialet där det ingår både upp- och nedgångar fanns inte längre några tydliga samband för vilka strategier som var lönsamma. Det fanns även vissa skillnader gällande den avkastning som de olika strategierna genererade, men då samtliga presterade så pass dåligt bör en investera inte ägna sig åt någon av dem. Vidare visar studien på att det inte är några större skillnader mellan de nordiska marknaderna när det kommer till hur väl de olika strategierna presterar.