The macroeconomic drivers of stock market development: evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the macroeconomic drivers of stock market development in Hong Kong during the period 1992Q4-2016Q3. Specifically, it investigates the impact of banking sector development, economic growth, inflation rate, exchange rate, trade openness and stock market liquidity on stock market development. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses quarterly time-series data covering the period 1992Q4-2016Q3, which have been obtained from various reliable sources. The study uses the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing procedure to identify both the long- and short-run macroeconomic drivers of stock market development in Hong Kong. Findings We find that banking sector development and economic growth have positive impacts on stock market development, whereas the inflation rate and the exchange rate have negative impacts on stock market development both in the long and short run. In addition, the results show that trade openness has a positive long-run impact but a negative short-run impact on stock market development. Originality/value Despite the phenomenal growth of stock market in Hong Kong, there are, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no relevant studies on the macroeconomic drivers of stock market development in Hong Kong. Therefore, this paper endeavours to enrich the literature by examining the macroeconomic drivers of stock market development in Hong Kong during the period 1992Q4-2016Q3.