Factors Influencing Equity Return Correlations between China’s Pairs of A- and B-Share Markets: Effect of QFII’s Implementation

Abstract

This paper was intended to examine factors influencing the correlations between A- and B-shares of individual firms, and explore the effects of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor’s (QFII) implementation on correlations. The empirical results show that interest rate differential, relative turnover rate, relative return volatility, and market sentiment had impacts on correlation both before and after the QFII’s implementation. After its implementation, correlations became more sensitive to premium, relative turnover rate and market sentiment. Furthermore, the estimated constant term for overall market correlation became more negative (raw values from -0.3413 to -0.8815), indicating an increasing correlation between A- and B-shares’ returns. The policy implications are that much benefit of diversification into emerging markets such as paired A-and B-shares can be accomplished, together with taking several influential factors into account.