The Ex-Dividend-Day Price Behaviour of Blue-Chip Stocks: International Evidence

Abstract

To explain the ex-day stock price behaviour, previous research has mostly focused on dividend yield and expected return. Most of these studies concentrated on the US markets and were conducted in a stable economic condition. This paper examines the most liquid common stock (blue-chip) prices behaviour on the ex-day in a period of financial crisis and covers four major capital markets from different geographic locations (the US, the UK, Japan, and China). On the New York and Shanghai Stock Exchanges, we observe that the stock prices drop does not differ from the dividend amount on the ex-dividend day and there is no evidence of abnormal return and short-term trading. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the stock prices fall less than the dividend amount, which is in contrast to the London Stock Exchange, where the stock prices fall more than the dividend amount. On the Tokyo and London Stock Exchanges, we observe abnormal return and short-term trading around the ex-day. Possible explanations for these differences can be financial crisis (in the UK) and short-term trading (in the Japan)