Modeling the relationships among gold price, oil price, foreign exchange, and the stock market index in Thailand

Islamic finance has grown rapidly in the recent years particularly in the Middle East and the world. It receives a great attention of bankers and financial scholars due to its stability during financial shocks and crises. The paper uses empirical analysis to test the role of Islamic banking in enhancing the economic growth of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross formation (GF), and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are used as representatives for economic growth, while Islamic banks’ investments are used as a representative for Islamic financial sector in the UAE. The study uses time series techniques to test the link between the variables. In the current study, co-integration along with error correction models is utilized. All econometric work is done using Eviews. The findings reveal that the causal relationship between Islamic banks’ investments and economic growth of UAE is supply-leading direction. Furthermore, the findings depict that Islamic investments have contributed in increasing investments and in bringing FDI into the country in the long-term. The study also shows that there is two-way association between Islamic banks’ investments and FDI. It shows that FDI supports Islamic banking and Islamic banking brings FDI. The paper concludes that authorities of the UAE should devote more attention for this growing banking sector by facilitating regulations for establishing new Islamic banks and then creating a suitable environment for their growth and progress in the UAE.

This study investigates how oil price movements impact the main Eurozone industry supersectors returns. We use a multifactor market model in which we incorporate oil price changes as an additional risk factor. In order to account for possible breaks in the relationship, we use the Bai and Perron (1998, 2003) breakpoints identification methodology. We find evidence of the presence of structural instabilities on the relationship between sector stock returns and oil price changes. Different breakpoints are identified, particularly the 2003 Iraq invasion year, the 2008 subprime crisis and the 2012 Euro debt crisis. Moreover, our results prove that stock return sensitivities to oil prices are time varying and sector dependent. Besides, the subprime financial crisis appears to induce a significantly positive effect on the oil-stock market nexus. However, the Euro debt crisis has a mostly negative effect. The other identified breakpoints do not seem to have any significant effect on the oil stock market nexus.

This paper investigates the relationship of cryptocurrencies with four traditional assets: equity, fiat currencies, crude oil, and gold in Nigeria, Vietnam, the Philippines, Turkey, and Peru. According to Statista’s 2020 Cryptocurrency Adoption Survey, these five countries showed high levels of crypto usage and ownership. Emerging economies attract the attention of portfolio managers due to the high returns associated with assets originating from these countries. The paper explores the possibility of creating a multi-asset portfolio, including cryptocurrencies. Vector Autoregression Granger causality and Johansen Cointegration tests are conducted to study the relationship between each traditional asset and cryptocurrencies. The study period is from October 2017 to June 2021. The composite Crypto Index was created using the top seven cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization. The Granger Causality test results reveal no causality between Nigeria’s chosen traditional assets and the cryptocurrency index. In the case of the Philippines, there is a unidirectional causality relationship from crypto returns to currency returns; and gold returns to crypto index returns. In Vietnam, stock index returns cause crypto returns; in Peru, gold returns cause crypto returns; and in Turkey, crypto returns cause currency returns. None of the countries has exhibited a bidirectional relationship between traditional assets and the crypto index. The robustness of the causality relations is checked using the Johansen Cointegration test. All the assets taken under study, country-wise, are cointegrated with one another. Hence, when building a multi-asset portfolio covering these five emerging nations, cryptocurrencies do not offer investors diversification, hedging, or haven benefits.