The impact of internationalisation on stock liquidity and volatility: Evidence from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Maximising firm value remains a key tenet of corporate managers. Firms with lower illiquidity and volatility attract lower risk premiums, and these are associated with a lower cost of capital and higher firm value. Internationalisation is one avenue purported to provide liquidity and volatility benefits – possibly lowering both liquidity and volatility risk premiums. This study investigated whether South African domiciled stocks experience a surge in liquidity and/or decline in volatility subsequent to internationalisation. The findings show that internationalisation resulted in a surge in liquidity, and this increase was persistent as suggested by the trading volume and Amihud illiquidity measures of stock liquidity; however, the turnover measure indicated that such liquidity gains were temporary. Similarly, volatility declines after internationalisation were temporary. There was inconclusive evidence to show that internationalised stocks had higher liquidity relative to purely domestic shares, and no statistically significant difference between the volatility of internationalised and purely domestic shareholders’ equity was noted. There is only weak evidence to support internationalisation as a route for lowering cost of capital via a reduction in the liquidity risk premium.