Impact of Macroeconomic Variability on the Stock Market Volatility of Bangladesh

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of macroeconomic variability on stock market volatility in Bangladesh covering the data ranging from January 2005 to December 2018 by using three steps of analysis. Firstly, the univariate Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model is employed to estimate the time‐varying conditional variance series for stock return and macroeconomic fundamentals. In the second phase, the volatility effect of macroeconomic forces on stock return is estimated by using the most recent standardized squared residuals of macroeconomic fundamentals as exogenous variables in the conditional variance equation of stock returns. Finally, Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model is used to examine the possible interaction between macroeconomic forces and stock price. The findings of the study evidence that increased volatility in Consumer Price Index, Treasury Bill Rates, and inflow in Foreign Remittance increases the stock return volatility whilst fluctuations in IP leads to a decrease in stock return volatility. Therefore, the implication of these findings documents that both the stock market and macroeconomic forces becoming interdependent in Bangladesh.