COVID-19 effect on Islamic vs. conventional banks’ stock prices: Case of GCC countries

Abstract

This Study explores the COVID-19 impact on the co-movement between Islamic and conventional banks' stock prices during the period from March 3, 2019, to January 30, 2021, in six GCC countries. The wavelet coherency approach and the DCC- GARCH (1,1) model are used to assess the COVID-19 impact on both banks' indexes. Findings of the study find that Islamic and conventional banks' stock returns move in the same direction during the pandemic, but the fluctuations of Islamic banks’ returns were less volatile compared to their conventional counterparts. These findings indicate that investors in the Islamic banking industry had more positive sentiments for the industry.