Understanding the cost of carry in Nikkei 225 stock index futures markets: mispricing, price and volatility dynamics

This dissertation studies the cost of carry relationship and the international dynamics of mispricing, price and volatility in the three Nikkei futures markets - the Osaka Exchange (OSE), the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Previous research does not fully consider the unique characteristics of the triple-listed Nikkei futures contracts, or the price and volatility dynamics in the three Nikkei futures exchanges at the same time. This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the existing literature. In particular, with a comprehensive new 19-year sample period, this dissertation helps deepen the understanding of the Nikkei spot-futures equilibrium and arbitrage behaviour, cross-border information transmission mechanism, and futures market integration. The first topic of the dissertation is to study the cost of carry relationship, mispricing and index arbitrage in the three Nikkei markets. The standard cost of carry model is adjusted for each Nikkei futures contract by allowing for the triple-listing nature and key institutional differences. Based on this, the economic significance of the Nikkei mispricing is explored in the presence of transaction costs. The static behaviour of the mispricing suggests that it is difficult especially for institutional investors to make arbitrage profits in the OSE and SGX, and that index arbitrage in the CME is not strictly risk-free due to the exchange rate effect. Smooth transition models are used to study the dynamic behaviour of the mispricing in the three markets. The results show that mean reversion in mispricing and limits to arbitrage are driven more by transaction costs than by heterogeneous arbitrageurs in the Nikkei markets. The second topic of the dissertation is to investigate the price discovery process in individual Nikkei markets and across the Nikkei futures markets. With smooth transition error correction models, this dissertation reports the leading role of the futures prices in the pre-crisis period and the leading role of the spot prices in the post-crisis period, in the first-moment information transmission process. Moreover, there is evidence of asymmetric adjustments in the Nikkei prices and volatilities. The cross-border dynamics suggest that the foreign Nikkei markets (the CME and SGX) act as the main price discovery vehicle, which implies the key functions of the equivalent, offshore markets in futures market globalisation. The third topic of the dissertation is to study the volatility transmission process in individual Nikkei markets and across the Nikkei futures markets, from the perspectives of the volatility interactions in and across the Nikkei markets and of the dynamic Nikkei market linkages. This dissertation finds bidirectional volatility spillover effects between the Nikkei spot and futures markets, and the information leadership of the foreign Nikkei markets (the CME and SGX) in the second-moment information transmission process across the border. It further examines the dynamic conditional correlations between the Nikkei markets. The results point to a dramatic integration process with strongly persistent and stable Nikkei market co-movements over time.