Do Exogenous Shocks in Macroeconomic Variables Respond to Changes in Stock Prices?

Abstract

The research aims to examine the unexpected changes in stock prices due to external shocks given to the macroeconomic variables to forecast future stock market returns. The study applies two econometric models such as «Variance Decomposition» (VDC) and «Impulse Response Function» (IRF) for examining the exogenous shocks in macroeconomic variables respond to changes in stock prices. Monthly time series data of five significant macroeconomic variables Real Exchange Rate, Interest Rate, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Crude Oil Prices, and Trade Openness, taken as independent variables and BSE SENSEX as a dependent variable. The research period is from Jan 2009 to Dec 2019. The study has taken the responsibility to reveal a few strong evidences for changes in stock prices due to exogenous shocks in Exchange Rate, Trade Openness, Inflation, and Interest rate along with crude oil prices. According to the results, changes in the stock market are due to external factors like changes in dividend policy or capital loss, and some changes in the stock market are due to its own innovative shocks. This study suggests to reduce unexpected changes in stock prices frequently, companies should control capital loss and focus on stable return/dividend policies. There are divergent views in the literature review in the context of measures of these variables, however no research has been done on exogenous shocks in macroeconomic variables to BSE SENSEX for the Indian stock market with this particular data set and duration.