Rui Dias –School of Business and Administration, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Portugal and CEFAGE-UE, IIFA, University of Évora, Portugal
Hortense Santos – School of Business and Administration, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Portugal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2020.25
6th International Scientific-Business Conference – LIMEN 2020 – Leadership, Innovation, Management and Economics: Integrated Politics of Research – CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, Online/virtual, November 26, 2020, published by the Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade; Printed by: SKRIPTA International, Belgrade, ISBN 978-86-80194-39-4, ISSN 2683-6149, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2020
Abstract
This paper aims to test the efficient market hypothesis, in its weak form, in the stock markets of BOTSWANA, EGYPT, KENYA, MOROCCO, NIGERIA and SOUTH AFRICA, in the period from September 2, 2019 to September 2, 2020. In order to achieve this analysis, we intend to find out if: the global pandemic (Covid-19) has decreased the efficiency, in its weak form, of African stock markets? The results therefore support the evidence that the random walk hypothesis is not supported by the financial markets analyzed in this period of global pandemic. The values of variance ratios are lower than the unit, which implies that the yields are autocorrelated in time and, there is reversal to the mean, and no differences were identified between the stock markets analyzed. The authors consider that the results achieved are of interest to investors looking for opportunities for portfolio diversification in these regional stock markets.
Keywords
Random walk, Africa stock markets, Portfolio diversification.
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