Impact of political events on stock market returns: empirical evidence from Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between uncertain political events and Pakistani Stock Markets from May 1999 to December 2011. Design/methodology/approach – Using the mean-adjusted return model and event study methodology and by comparing the market efficiency between the two government style, i.e. autocratic and democratic, the authors determined that how uncertain political events are affecting Pakistani Stock Markets. Findings – The empirical result shows that political events have an impact on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) returns. Moreover, the paper derives from the results that the KSE is inefficient for a short span of time, after 15 days KSE absorbs the noisy information. The political situation in Pakistan was more stable in autocratic government structure than in democratic structure but it is difficult to state that the stock markets are more efficient in Autocracy because only few events took place during an autocratic regime and magnitude of events was not same in the autocratic and democratic government structure. Originality/value – This study is unique in its nature as it examines the effect of multiple political events on stock market returns in Pakistan simultaneously and is expected to contribute significantly in the capital market literature of Pakistan in particular.