Do Oil and Gas Risk Factors Matter in the Malaysian Oil and Gas Industry? A Fama-MacBeth Two Stage Panel Regression Approach

Abstract

This study examines whether oil and gas risk factors are priced in the returns of Malaysian oil and gas stocks employing asset pricing model with improved version of Fama-MacBeth two-stage panel regression. The findings reveal that oil price risk, gas price risk, and exchange rate risk are priced factors in the returns of oil and gas stocks, alongside market-based risk factors. Oil price, gas price and exchange rate factors are found to be associated with positive risk premium implying that they are systematic risk factors in the Malaysian oil and gas industry. Investors demand compensation for exposure to changes in oil price, gas price and exchange rate, implying that the risk cannot be eliminated through diversification. The risk premium for common systematic risk factors such as market, book-to-market, and momentum factors are found to be negative. The results suggest that in the Malaysian oil and gas industry, momentum driven strategy produces negative returns and investors receive higher returns from investing in growth oriented oil and gas stocks. Our results offer implications for asset pricing and portfolio management.