Interdependence of ASEAN-5 Stock Markets from the US and Japan

This study empirically examines market integration among five selected ASEAN (Association of South-east Asian Nations) emerging markets (i.e. Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore) and their interdependencies from the US and Japan based on a two-step estimation, cointegration and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). Closing daily stock indices starting from 1 January 1988 to 31 December 2006 are used. The study reveals that the ASEAN stock markets are going towards a greater integration either among themselves or with the US and Japan, particularly in the post-1997 financial turmoil. This implies that the long-run diversification benefits that can be gained by investors across the ASEAN markets tend to diminish. As for the long run causal relations between ASEAN stock markets with the US and Japan, the study discovers that Indonesia was relatively independent of both the US and Japan; Malaysia was more dependent on Japan rather than the US; Thailand was relatively independent of the US, but to some extent dependent on Japan; the Philippines is more affected by the US than Japan; and the US and Japan have bidirectional Granger causalities with Singapore.