Khaled Qasem Bataineh

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study examines aggregate asset quality and capitalization in Jordan’s banking sector from 2010 to H1 2024. A source audit showed that the international database values used previously repeated the same non-performing loan (NPL) ratio and capital adequacy ratio for 2010–2014 and were not demonstrably comparable with later supervisory observations. The revised dataset therefore uses Central Bank of Jordan publications consistently for banking indicators, World Development Indicators for macroeconomic variables, and treats H1 2024 as descriptive only. Annual regressions use 2010–2023 year-end data. Pearson correlations and two parsimonious OLS specifications are estimated with HC3 standard errors and t-based finite-sample inference. The NPL ratio averaged 5.743% and the capital adequacy ratio 18.393% over the 14 annual observations. In the contemporaneous model, capital adequacy is positively associated with the NPL ratio (coefficient 1.243, p = 0.005), but this association is not interpreted causally because regulation, provisioning, and common trends can generate reverse or simultaneous responses. In the limited dynamic model, the lagged NPL coefficient is 0.769 (p = 0.001), whereas lagged capital adequacy is imprecise (0.079, p = 0.866). These results indicate short-run persistence in aggregate asset quality, not a comprehensive measure of banking resilience. The small annual sample, influential observations, and incomplete public methodological detail require cautious interpretation.

Acknowledgment
The author thanks the reviewer for comments that led to a complete source audit and a more transparent empirical design. Public data were provided by the Central Bank of Jordan and the World Bank.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study examines how realized annual price dispersion and trading activity co-moved with 2025 price returns in the cross-section of Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) equities. The official yearly sector bulletin contains 160 valid securities; transparent activity and data-validity filters yield a 142-stock baseline sample. Cross-sectional OLS models use HC3 standard errors and are complemented by broad-sector controls, outlier-resistant estimation, alternative range scaling, sample sensitivity, signed range decomposition, and a manual corporate-action audit of extreme observations. The annual high-low range is strongly positively associated with same-year price return: its baseline coefficient is 0.883 (HC3 SE = 0.075). Scaling the range by average price leaves the coefficient positive but reduces R2 from .729 to .307. Decomposing the previous-close-scaled range produces an upside coefficient of 0.806 (SE = 0.071) and a downside coefficient of –0.630 (0.187), with equality strongly rejected (Wald χ2 = 72.61, p < .001). The extreme-observation audit identifies official 2025 capital reductions for PHNX, OFTC, NAQL, and DAFI. Excluding these four securities leaves the unsigned range coefficient positive at 0.850 (0.082; N = 138); the signed coefficients remain 0.792 (0.062) and –0.653 (0.186), respectively. Because return and range are constructed from the same annual price path, these results document robust contemporaneous directional co-movement rather than an ex-ante risk premium, causal liquidity effect, or forecasting relation.

Acknowledgments
The author thanks the Amman Stock Exchange for making public yearly trading bulletins available. Any remaining errors are the responsibility of the author.