Testing the Efficiency of the Indian Stock Market during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to assess the market efficiency of Indian Stock Markets during the COVID 19 Pandemic. More specifically it tests for the validity of Weak Form Efficiency. Market efficiency is fairly important for various market players as it is an indicator on which they base their investment decision. Design/methodology/approach: Daily data of 10 indices has been gathered for a period of 15 months from March, 2020 to May, 2021. A variety of tests namely the Runs test, Autocorrelation Functions, Correlograms and Box Pierce test have been used to evaluate efficiency levels. Findings: This paper concludes that the Indian Stock Markets are not weak form efficient for the period under consideration, indicating that stock prices do not reflect all possible information and are mispriced. This allows for the use of technical analysis, trading rules and Fundamental analysis to generate abnormal returns. Research Limitations/Implications The current study is based on particular time frame. Originality/Value This research is original in contribution to existing literature.