Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)

This study tests the viability of using the South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool to time equity trades on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and uses technical analysis in the application of selected market timing trading strategies. This study therefore has very real practical releva...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Govender, Lerissa
Other Authors: Toerien, Francois
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Finance and Tax 2019
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867614461091643392
access_status_str Open Access
author Govender, Lerissa
author2 Toerien, Francois
author_browse Govender, Lerissa
Toerien, Francois
author_facet Toerien, Francois
Govender, Lerissa
author_sort Govender, Lerissa
collection Thesis
description This study tests the viability of using the South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool to time equity trades on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and uses technical analysis in the application of selected market timing trading strategies. This study therefore has very real practical relevance to investors on the JSE, who wish to take an active approach to investing. Using the JSE Top 40 Index for the period May 2007 to March 2018 as a sample, this investigation firstly considers whether the technical trading rules developed for the CBOE VIX, as used in the United States market, can be applied to the South African market using the SAVI as a market timing tool in order to outperform a passive buy-and-hold strategy. This involved switching the portfolio between the Top 40 equity index and the STeFI money market index, depending on the nature of the timing signals generated by the SAVI-based strategies. Secondly, this study considers the viability of using the SAVI in a market timing rule to take advantage of the documented size (small-capitalisation versus large-capitalisation) and style (value versus growth) anomalies on the JSE. In the first part of this study, it was found that three of the eleven market timing trading strategies outperformed the buy-andhold strategy before the inclusion of transaction costs. When compared to the results found by the researchers in the U.S context, it appears that these strategies are more successful in the U.S context using the VIX, as the majority of the trading strategies yielded positive excess returns over their respective sample periods. Additionally, in the second part of this study, it was found that the returns of the style strategy were not significant enough to deem it a profitable market timing strategy. However, the returns of the size strategy were significant enough to make it a profitable strategy. Transaction costs, applied at different levels, had a significant impact on the results of all strategies, with only one of the market timing strategies, namely the simple moving average strategy, beating the buy-and-hold strategy after transaction costs of up to 0.2% and 0.45% (for sales and purchases respectively) have been taken into account.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30159
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:52:24.492Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
publishDateSort 2019
publisher Department of Finance and Tax
publisherStr Department of Finance and Tax
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30159 The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Govender, Lerissa Toerien, Francois Kruger, Ryan This study tests the viability of using the South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool to time equity trades on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), and uses technical analysis in the application of selected market timing trading strategies. This study therefore has very real practical relevance to investors on the JSE, who wish to take an active approach to investing. Using the JSE Top 40 Index for the period May 2007 to March 2018 as a sample, this investigation firstly considers whether the technical trading rules developed for the CBOE VIX, as used in the United States market, can be applied to the South African market using the SAVI as a market timing tool in order to outperform a passive buy-and-hold strategy. This involved switching the portfolio between the Top 40 equity index and the STeFI money market index, depending on the nature of the timing signals generated by the SAVI-based strategies. Secondly, this study considers the viability of using the SAVI in a market timing rule to take advantage of the documented size (small-capitalisation versus large-capitalisation) and style (value versus growth) anomalies on the JSE. In the first part of this study, it was found that three of the eleven market timing trading strategies outperformed the buy-andhold strategy before the inclusion of transaction costs. When compared to the results found by the researchers in the U.S context, it appears that these strategies are more successful in the U.S context using the VIX, as the majority of the trading strategies yielded positive excess returns over their respective sample periods. Additionally, in the second part of this study, it was found that the returns of the style strategy were not significant enough to deem it a profitable market timing strategy. However, the returns of the size strategy were significant enough to make it a profitable strategy. Transaction costs, applied at different levels, had a significant impact on the results of all strategies, with only one of the market timing strategies, namely the simple moving average strategy, beating the buy-and-hold strategy after transaction costs of up to 0.2% and 0.45% (for sales and purchases respectively) have been taken into account. 2019-05-16T13:22:02Z 2019-05-16T13:22:02Z 2018 2019-05-16T13:15:39Z Master Thesis Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30159 eng application/pdf Department of Finance and Tax Faculty of Commerce
spellingShingle Govender, Lerissa
The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
title_full The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
title_fullStr The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
title_full_unstemmed The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
title_short The South African Volatility Index (SAVI) as a tool for market timing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
title_sort south african volatility index savi as a tool for market timing on the johannesburg stock exchange jse
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30159
work_keys_str_mv AT govenderlerissa thesouthafricanvolatilityindexsaviasatoolformarkettimingonthejohannesburgstockexchangejse
AT govenderlerissa southafricanvolatilityindexsaviasatoolformarkettimingonthejohannesburgstockexchangejse