Religious anomalies in Islamic stock markets: The Hajj Effect in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study focuses on the issue of religious anomalies, particularly the Hajj effect, influencing returns and volatility of the Saudi stock market (also known as the Tadawul All-Share Index). Using daily prices and trading volume of the index for a period of 9 years and the ARMA(1,1)–GARCH(1,1) model, it is found that returns are lower and volatility is higher during the Hajj period, although the effect is significant only for the volatility and not the returns.