The relationship of BIST sector indices with exchange rate volatility

Abstract

Through globalization, the increased integration in financial markets has made the relationship between exchange rate and stocks important. The study aims to model the exchange rate volatility using daily data for the period 04.01.2010-15.10.2020 and investigate the causality relationship between sector returns and exchange rate return volatility. In order to model the volatility of the exchange rate return series, the GARCH model was used to reveal the possible asymmetry feature in the series. As a result of the model applications, GARCH (2,2) was determined as the most suitable model to measure volatility modelling. Then, the Granger causality test was used to see whether there is a relationship between BIST sector return indices and exchange rate return volatility. As a result of the study, one notes that there is a uni-directional causality from the exchange rate return volatility series to the service, technology, and industrial sector indices. There is a bi-directional causality relationship between the financial sector index and the exchange rate return volatility series. It is noteworthy that the causality relationship between the BIST100 index and the exchange rate is towards the volatility of the exchange rate return series from the BIST 100 index, unlike the sector indices. According to this result, it is seen that the changes in the dollar exchange rate affect the decisions of the investors who will invest in the relevant index. The results show that in the case of Turkey, mostly traditional theories are valid.