Chinese ADRs Research Articles

Volume decomposition and volatility in dual-listing H-shares

We investigate the volume impact on volatility for 14 Chinese ADRs and their underlying H-shares. We decompose volume into expected and unanticipated components and include those as determinants of conditional volatility in a bivariate GARCH model for each ADR and its underlying H-share. Expected volume denotes liquidity, while unanticipated volume implies information content in volume. The GARCH model fits the data well. In addition to the conventional GARCH parameters, for ADRs and their underlying H-shares, expected and unanticipated volumes significantly but asymmetrically affect both the variance and the covariance functions. Further, volume components asymmetrically impact volatility of ADRs and H-shares in high- versus low-liquidity and high- versus low-liquidity-risk buckets denoted by volume and standard deviation of volume, respectively.

Chinese and Global ADRs: The U.S. Investor Experience

We study outcomes to ADR investments between August 1954 and September 2020, with attention to ADRs associated with Chinese firms. Overall, ADRs improved investors’ wealth by $1.03 trillion, with more than a third of this amount attributable to ADRs associated with Chinese firms. A value-weighted portfolio of ADRs associated with Chinese firms earned 14.1% per year since the first Chinese ADR was created in 1993, as compared to 9.9% per year for the overall U.S. stock market over the same period. These data are relevant to current policy discussions focused on Chinese firms listed in the U.S.

Return Commonality in Cross Listings: Evidence from Hong Kong ADRs

In a return commonality framework, the authors estimate portfolio betas associated with changes in returns of 15 Chinese ADRs and their underlying H-shares, where the portfolios denote hosts (NYSE and SHSE) and home (Hang Seng) markets, and their returns are common determinants of ADRs and H-shares returns. In addition, the authors test whether returns on ADRs and H-shares portfolios determine their component ADRs and H-shares returns. Using a quantile regression methodology, the authors estimate those betas for four sample quartiles. The authors’ results indicate an asymmetric impact of changes in portfolio returns on changes in ADR and H-share returns; further, the asymmetries are enhanced across return quartiles. The authors interpret the market impact on ADR and H-share returns as denoting investor sentiments. TOPICS:Fundamental equity analysis, accounting and ratio analysis, technical analysis Key Findings • This article highlights the asymmetry in return distributions for ADRs and their underlying H-shares when means and variances of returns are considered. • Investor sentiment denoted by index returns asymmetrically impact ADR and H-share returns.

Testing Multi-Factor Models in ADRs: Emerging Market vs. Developed Market

This paper tests whether the Carhart four-factor model and the Fama-French five-factor model can explain variation in returns of 1,230 ADRs originating from six developed markets and five emerging markets. We aim to compare emerging market ADRs with developed market ADRs in terms of traditional risk factors significance, model fitness and the existence of abnormal returns. Overall, we find that substantial variations exist among ADRs by their origin-of-market. First, both models show that most of the positive abnormal returns we document accrue to emerging market ADRs, mainly Chinese ADRs. Among the risk factors, market risk premium is found to be most prevalent in both emerging and developed markets. Although we find some difference in the presence of particular risk factors employed in the four-factor vs. five-factor model, overall, there are no significant differences in the explanation power between the two models. Lastly, the low R2 values imply that both models do not work very well with the international market ADRs.

Macroeconomic Drivers of Chinese ADRs: Home Country vs. US Effects

The potential connections between macroeconomic variables and the stock market becomes less straightforward for shares issued in one country but traded in another. Whereas past work has suggested that cross-listed stocks respond to country-specific sentiment factors in the location of trade, in this article we show how Chinese ADRs also generally respond more to U.S. macroeconomic developments than to home-country influences. Following the application of Markov-switching analysis, we find that Chinese macroeconomic effects become relatively more important during times of crisis, however. Particularly large responses to Chinese macroeconomic variables are seen in the case of a Chinese closed-end fund that trades in the United States, but invests directly in Shanghai A-shares.

Why have many U.S.-listed Chinese firms announced delisting recently?

In this study, we propose a new rationale for firms' delisting and going private decision: voluntary delist then reissue shares and relist in the “home” country, because of favorable government economic policy and regulatory changes. 29 (27) out of 127 U.S.-listed Chinese ADRs announced going private during 2015 alone (2011–14). Using these two waves of Chinese ADRs going private, we first examine three potential rationales proposed by prior literature, namely, undervaluation, free cash flows and cash holdings, and financial visibility. We find support for them generally, especially for the undervaluation hypothesis. More importantly, we provide evidences supporting our new rationale: government policy changes, which played a significant role in the 2015 wave of Chinese ADRs going private. Overall, our study highlights intensive competition among major international stock exchanges and the importance of government policy in the modern era of increasingly inter-connected global capital markets.

Why Have Many U.S.-Listed Chinese Firms Announced Going Private Recently?

In this study, we propose a new rationale for firms’ delisting and going private decision: voluntary delist then reissue shares and relist in the “home” country, because of favorable government economic policy and regulatory changes. 29 (27) out of 127 U.S.-listed Chinese ADRs announced going private during 2015 alone (2011-14). Using these two waves of Chinese ADRs going private, we first examine three potential rationales proposed by prior literature, namely, undervaluation, free cash flows and cash holdings, and financial visibility. We find support for them generally, especially for the undervaluation hypothesis. More importantly, we provide evidences supporting our new rationale: government policy changes, which played a significant role in the 2015 wave of Chinese ADRs going private. Overall, our study highlights intensive competition among major international stock exchanges and the importance of government policy in the modern era of increasingly inter-connected global capital markets.

Trading Volumes, Security Prices, and Investor Attention: Evidence from Chinese ADRs

Focusing on a sample of Chinese ADRs traded in the US stock markets between 2004 and 2014, this study examines the relationship between investor attention, trading volumes, and security prices on a two-week investment horizon. This study shows evidence that higher search intensity is associated with higher trading volume. Also, this study detects abnormal stock returns following surges in investor attention. The positive association between investor attention and stock prices is stronger among stocks that are mostly held/traded by individual investors. However, the positive abnormal return would disappear or even reverse quickly after day zero.

Trading Volumes, Security Prices, and Investor Attention: Evidence from Chinese ADRs

Trading Volumes, Security Prices, and Investor Attention: Evidence from Chinese ADRs

The dynamics of price discovery for cross-listed stocks evidence from US and Chinese markets

Purpose: This study examines how, and to what extent the trading of the cross-listed China-backed ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) contributes to the information flow and price discovery for the corresponding cross-listed stocks on the Shanghai Stock exchange (SSE). Design/methodology/approach: The study utilizes the information share, Granger causality test, Vector error correction model, Permanent–Temporary Gonzalo–Granger (PT/GG) method and Bivariate DCC-EGARCH model to examine the price discovery dynamics across the cross-listed stocks. Findings: The Granger causality tests show that there is two-way transmission on feedback between the Chinese and US markets. The effects from NYSE to SSE are larger than the other way round. The Bivariate DCC-EGARCH model test results indicate the volatility spill over from NYSE is larger from the SSE. Practical implications: Results suggest that in contrast to previous studies that showed very little contribution to price discovery by Chinese ADRs on the NYSE, the present study indicates that the contribution to price-discovery of Chinese ADRs on NYSE has increased relative to the past, suggesting the importance of changing time frames and economic situations. Originality/value: The study differentiates between long-term and short-term price discovery effects and finds that home country bias persists in the long term and in the short term the information from the Cross-listed China-backed ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) affects price discovery for SSE stocks.

IPO and Aftermarket Performance of Single‐Listed Chinese ADRs

AbstractThis paper analyzes the post‐IPO and long‐run aftermarket performances of single‐listed Chinese ADRs during the 2004–2010 period. Single‐listed ADRs are traded daily in major exchanges in the United States, but their underlying shares are not traded in the issuer's home market. Our results show that over the short‐run, buy‐and‐hold abnormal returns of single‐listed Chinese ADRs following their IPO are not significantly different from the typical post‐IPO performance of stocks in U.S. exchanges, including that of traditional dual‐listed Chinese ADRs. Nevertheless, over the longer horizon, the excess returns of a portfolio composed solely of single‐listed Chinese ADRs outperform a portfolio of dual‐listed Chinese ADRs, but underperform a benchmark portfolio composed of U.S. firms matched on the basis of their IPO date. We also find that the portfolio formed solely of single‐listed Chinese ADRs exhibits significantly distinct loadings on the common portfolio factors from the portfolio formed of dual‐listed Chinese ADRs and from the benchmark portfolio of U.S. stocks.

A Multilingual Analysis of Corporate Governance News

In this study, we conduct a textual analysis of media news for a sample of Chinese ADRs and compare the topics discussed by English- and Chinese-language media outlets. Our findings suggest that a large proportion of corporate governance news articles published by Chinese media outlets appear to be overlooked by the English media. Next we investigate investors’ attention to Chinese corporate governance news. Our findings are consistent with the notion that high costs associated with searching, translating and processing foreign language news creates informational frictions for foreign investors.

Day and Night Returns of Chinese ADRs

Are the returns of Chinese ADRs more affected by the U.S. stock market or their underlying home market? Since there is non-synchronous trading between U.S. and the Chinese stock markets, we decompose the Chinese ADR daily returns into day and night returns to investigate the different market factors in Chinese ADR pricing. This paper also attempts to separate homeless ADRs from home-based ADRs to see if they are affected differently by market factors. We include a sample of 76 Chinese ADRs with the daily data from January 2000 to July 2010. Through regression and VAR analysis, we find that the U.S. market dominate the day returns of Chinese ADRs, and the Hong Kong market factor dominate the ADR night returns over the mainland China market for the whole sample. These results are particularly strong for “homeless” ADRs.

The overseas listing puzzle: Post-IPO performance of Chinese stocks and ADRs in the U.S. market

The “China concepts stock” in the U.S. has attracted a great deal of attention among international investors due to the fast growth in Chinese economy. This paper examines the aftermarket performance and the motivations to list in the U.S. for Chinese firms over 1993–2010 by considering the great impact of split-share structure reform in China. We find that the Chinese firms in the U.S. generally underperform the benchmark and industry peers in the post-IPO period of 3 years. The Chinese cross-listing ADRs show superior performance relative to the single-listings in the long run. It seems that more stringent listing requirements and accounting standards help to improve the corporate governance and operating performance of the Chinese firms. The evidence also supports that the Chinese issuers are motivated to cross-list in the U.S. due to over-investment incentives, leverage effects or free-cash-flow signaling, which is consistent with agency theory and signaling hypothesis.

The Law of One Price and Arbitrage on China’s Dual-Listings in Hong Kong and New York

Traditionally, arbitrage refers to simultaneously buying and selling the same financial assets by taking advantage of a price difference in two or more markets. However, the strict sense of arbitrage is hardly obtained after consideration the issues concerning transaction costs and time value of money. By using the identical assets such as Chinese ADRs and their underlying securities traded in different markets in Hong Kong in HK dollar and in New York in US dollar and by constructing a very simple arbitrage trading strategy, this study demonstrates that arbitrage profits are still available with monthly return ranging from 0.5 per cent to 3.8 per cent after considering transaction costs and non-overlap trading time issues. This is a new study to verify this behaviour of an emerging market’s ADRs traded two financial market locations, so adding evidence of inefficiency in trading of China-listed stocks in foreign locations.

Return spread and liquidity: Evidence from Hong Kong ADRs

Fifteen Chinese H-shares listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong are cross listed as ADRs on the NYSE. We empirically determine the role of security specific liquidity associated with those ADRs and their underlying H-shares on return spreads, differences between the returns on ADRs and their corresponding H-shares after controlling for ADRs and H-shares excess market returns and their respective price inverses denoting conditional betas. We use three proxies for liquidity, trading volume, turnover, and illiquidity (Amihud, 2002) and find that only trading volume and turnover are consistent determinants of return spread for the majority of Chinese ADRs with primary listing in Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK). We use a switching regression model and find that the model parameter estimates are not stationary and change, often drastically between pre and post 2000 and 2003. Further tests using Bai Perron indicate return spreads data as non-stationary with multiple regime changes during the sample period. Further the causes of non-stationarity seem to be largely security specific and not driven by broad market swings in either market.

Return Spread and Liquidity: Evidence from Hong Kong ADRs

Fifteen Chinese H-shares listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong are cross listed as ADRs on the NYSE. We empirically determine the role of security specific liquidity associated with those ADRs and their underlying H-shares on return spreads, differences between the returns on ADRs and their corresponding H-shares after controlling for ADRs and H-shares excess market returns and their respective price inverses denoting conditional betas. We use three proxies for liquidity, trading volume, turnover, and illiquidity (Amihud, 2002) and find that only trading volume and turnover are consistent determinants of return spread for the majority of Chinese ADRs with primary listing in the Stock Exchange Hong Kong (SEHK). We use a switching regression model and find that the model parameter estimates are not stationary and change, often drastically between pre and post 2000 and 2003. Further tests using Bai Perron indicate return spreads data as non-stationary with multiple regime changes during the sample period. Further the causes of non-stationarity seem to be largely security specific and not driven by broad market swings in either market.

Sentiment effects on Chinese share prices and savings deposits: The post-2003 experience

This paper examines the importance of sentiment effects on asset allocation decisions in mainland China and beyond. Rising stock market sentiment appears to have negatively and significantly impacted Chinese savings account growth over the 2003–2007 period. Investor sentiment also exerted consistently significant effects on the discounts attached to Chinese B-shares, H-shares and ADRs by foreign investors. Although the sample period is limited by availability of the sentiment data, the indicated effects remain most robust when controlling for relative stock market performance, liquidity levels, expected exchange rate movements, and such ‘indirect’ sentiment measures as market and firm-specific price-earnings ratios.

Sentiment Effects on Chinese Share Prices and Savings Deposits: The 2003-2007 Experience

This paper examines the importance of sentiment effects on asset allocation decisions in mainland China and beyond. Rising stock market sentiment is found to negatively and significantly impact Chinese savings deposit growth over the 2003-2007 period. Investor sentiment also exerted consistently significant effects on the discounts attached to Chinese B-shares, H-shares and ADRs by foreign investors. Although the sample period is limited by availability of the sentiment data, the indicated effects remain most robust when controlling for relative stock market performance, liquidity levels, expected exchange rate movements, and such 'indirect' sentiment measures as market and firm-specific price-earnings ratios.

The Decision to Cross-List: The Case of Chinese IPOs and ADRs

This paper examines the cross-listings by Chinese companies in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the U.S. markets from 1993 to 2005. Our sample consists of 101 firms cross-listed in Hong Kong, 43 firms in the U.S. and 77 firms in Singapore and a sample of 1,247 domestic listings. We find that the limitations of the domestic markets motivate the issuers to cross-list overseas. We also find that issuers are motivated to cross-list due to the legal and economic environments of the foreign markets, a better access to capital markets, and a lower cost of capital. The results of the Cox hazard model suggest that lower-leveraged, larger, and better-performing firms in the developed regions of China are more likely to cross-list. The multinomial probit model regressions indicate that, relative to their domestic counterparts, the firms cross-listed in the three foreign markets have lower leverage ratios and a larger EBITDA. However, the firms cross-listed in Singapore are significantly smaller in size and are more likely from the developed region. Subsequent to the cross-listing events, the issuers experience a significant increase in sales, total assets, and total profits, but a significant drop in profit margins. Excess returns after the cross-listings are generally negative for cross-listed stocks. Finally, underpricing is most severe in the listings on Chinese exchanges and the cross-listings on NASDAQ.