Purpose This study investigates the short- and long-run relationship between stock prices and exchange rates in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+6 markets. In the short run, support is found for both the theory of a goods market where exchange rates influence stock returns and portfolio balance theory, where stock returns influence exchange rates. Design/methodology/approach The co-integration approach of linear and nonlinear augmented autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models was applied to daily data from 2 January 2017 to 30 June 2023. Findings The findings provide evidence that the goods market theory is supported solely in Indonesia and Singapore, while the portfolio balance theory is supported for Australia, China, India and Malaysia. Practical implications Policymakers and investors should seriously consider the importance of the study findings. The results show that all ASEAN+6 countries experience a short-term interaction between the two markets. This illustrates that exchange rates and stock price movements play vital roles in other markets. Stakeholders, particularly policymakers, should be aware of this critical relationship. Originality/value This is the first study to dynamically examine how the ASEAN+6 framework influences currency rates and stock markets.

Purpose While the existing literature lacks a holistic approach to determining credit spreads and is limited to mostly developed countries, this study investigates credit spread determinants and their cross-country connectedness in the context of four emerging economies in Asia by incorporating bonds, market risk, macroeconomic and global factors. Design/methodology/approach This study utilizes principal component analysis for dimensionality reduction and variable representation. Furthermore, we employ the dynamic conditional correlation–generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model to capture the cross-country credit spread connectedness between the variables. Findings The findings indicate that market volatilities are the most significant drivers of credit spreads, while global factors play a moderating role. Furthermore, the results provide compelling evidence of cross-country credit spread connectedness, with China as the primary transmitter and Malaysia as the primary receiver among the selected emerging economies. Originality/value This study addresses the limitations of previous research by extending the analysis beyond the commonly studied developed economies and focusing on emerging economies in Asia. It also employs a comprehensive approach to determine credit spread and explores cross-country credit spread connectedness in developing economies, thereby shedding light on financial risks and vulnerabilities within interconnected global financial systems.

Purpose This study revisits the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities and firm performance. More importantly, it tests whether this relationship is moderated by critical yet underexplored factors such as stakeholder engagement, financial constraints, and religiosity. Design/methodology/approach A wide range of estimation techniques, including pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects, system generalized method of moments (GMM) and propensity score matching-difference-in-differences (PSM-DiD), are employed to investigate such issues in a large sample of firms from 31 countries. Findings ESG performance has a positive and significant impact on firm performance. While stakeholder engagement positively moderates this relationship, financial constraints and religiosity negatively moderate it. Interestingly, this positive linkage is driven by environmental and social performance rather than governance performance. Practical implications Firms should proactively engage in ESG initiatives and consider the intervening influences of stakeholder engagement, financial constraints and religiosity in making decisions to invest in ESG activities. Furthermore, our findings can help policymakers understand the financial consequences of ESG practices, which can be helpful in designing new policies to further promote corporate engagement in ESG practices. Originality/value First, our research findings help reconcile the long-standing debate about the value impact of ESG. Second, our paper investigates relatively new aspects of the ESG-firm performance relationship. Third, our study offers more insight into the ESG literature by showing that not all ESG dimensions equally impact firm performance.

Purpose This study aims to inform prospective listing firms, investors and regulators of the unique drivers of Chinese initial public offering (IPO) pricing on the Hong Kong Exchange. Design/methodology/approach Using a hand-collected IPO dataset, we investigate whether information uncertainty or investor exuberance drives underpricing and Chinese IPOs’ performance from 2002 to 2015, including 114 state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Findings Contrasting with the “listing bubble” in the China domestic stock market, generated by the overoptimism of retail investors, we highlight a “placing bubble” among Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong. This is driven by institutional investors’ buoyant demand for Chinese IPO shares, particularly those of SOEs. Chinese listing firms employ discreet earnings management strategies with their working capital accounts to smooth pre-IPO earnings, which becomes apparent to the market only in the long term. Originality/value This study is the first to examine the pricing of sought-after Chinese IPOs among international investors, who face various restrictions when investing in the Chinese domestic stock market. Additionally, it is the first study to measure earnings management using hand-collected pre-IPO data in IPO underpricing studies.

Purpose This study examines the co-integration relationships between Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) stock indices as a way to assess the feasibility of policy initiatives to strengthen market integration in ASEAN and identify implications for portfolio investors. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ threshold co-integration tests and a non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to study the asymmetric dynamics of ASEAN equity markets. The study’s data cover the 2009–2022 period for seven member states: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Findings The authors find evidence supporting co-integration relationships; adjustment toward equilibrium is asymmetric in the short run and symmetric in the long run for these countries. While co-movement in ASEAN equity markets seems encouraging for initiatives seeking to foster financial integration in regional economies, the benefits for international portfolio diversification appear to be neutralized. Originality/value The issue of stock market integration is important among policymakers, investors and academics. This study examines the level of stock market integration in ASEAN during the 2009–2022 period. For this purpose, advanced co-integration techniques are applied to different frequencies of data (daily, weekly and monthly) for comparison and completeness. The empirical analysis of this study is conducted using the Enders and Siklos (2001) co-integration and threshold adjustment procedure. This advanced co-integration technique is superior compared to other co-integration techniques by permitting asymmetry in the adjustment toward equilibrium.