OIL PRICES MOVEMENTS AND INDUSTRY STOCK RETURNS: EVIDENCE FROM PAKISTAN STOCK EXCHANGE (PSX)

The recent financial and economic recessions have chiefly increased the importance of risk management and forecasting for business firms. Capital markets being the main pillar of economy are affected the most in such circumstances. The current study has attempted to investigate the impact of oil prices on the returns and volatility of Pakistani listed firms using the GARCH (1,1) model. Furthermore, this relationship has been investigated by categorizing the existing sectors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) into oil producers, oil users, and oil substitutes for the period from January 2015 to December 2019. The findings of the study highlighted some strong evidence regarding the oil price movement and the firms’ returns across these sectors. Interestingly, firms’ returns behave differently about the magnitude of significance and direction of symbols based on their nature of the industry. Therefore, it is suggested for future studies to consider the nature of the sector of oil while exploring the relationship between oil prices and stock returns.