Investor behavior and weather factors: evidences from Asian region

The behavioral finance studies generally analyse the relationship between investor moods, caused by weather factors and indices returns via investor moods. The present study examines the relationship between three weather factors (temperature, humidity, and wind speed) in capital cities (namely Beijing for China, Tokyo for Japan, Victoria City for Hong Kong, New Delhi for India and Singapore for Singapore), and sample stock indices (Shanghai Stock Exchange from China, Nikkei 225 from Japan, Hang Seng Index from Hong Kong, BSE Sensex from India and Singapore Exchange Limited from Singapore) of selected Asian countries. This study applied statistical tools like Descriptive Statistics, ADF Test, VAR Module and adopted the Granger Causality Approach. The found that among the three weather variables, temperature recorded a statistically significant influence on the returns of Shanghai Stock Exchange (Unidirectional Linkage), HANG SENG Index (Unidirectional Linkage) and also BSE Sensex (Bi-Directional Linkage). Wind speed recorded Bi-Directional Linkages with HANG SENG Index. The findings of this study could help the investors in making better investment management decisions. It is found that there are valuable opportunities to international investors for diversifying their stocks. The study does contribute to the behavioral finance literature.

Automated summary

This study analyzes the impact of weather factors on selected stock indices in Asian countries, finding that temperature significantly affects the returns of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, HANG SENG Index, and BSE Sensex, while wind speed has bidirectional linkages with HANG SENG Index. The research contributes to informing international investors about opportunities for diversifying their portfolios and can assist in making better investment decisions.