Effect Of Macroeconomic Variables On Stock Market Returns For Four Emerging Economies: Brazil, Russia, India, And China

Abstract

The relationship between share prices and macroeconomic variables is well documented for the United States and other major economies.  However, what is the relationship between share prices and economic activity in emerging economies?  The goal of this study is to investigate the time-series relationship between stock market index prices and the macroeconomic variables of exchange rate and oil price for Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) using the Box-Jenkins ARIMA model.  Although no significant relationship was found between respective exchange rate and oil price on the stock market index prices of either BRIC country, this may be due to the influence other domestic and international macroeconomic factors on stock market returns, warranting further research.  Also, there was no significant relationship found between present and past stock market returns, suggesting the markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China exhibit the weak-form of market efficiency.