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Article
Publication date: 13 April 2010

Sheeba Kapil and Kanwal Nayan Kapil

The Indian commodity market requires large investments and enhanced trading activity both in the national as well as the regional commodity markets. The participation of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The Indian commodity market requires large investments and enhanced trading activity both in the national as well as the regional commodity markets. The participation of non‐professional people trading commodity markets makes the market a risky venture. Non‐professional participants simply add to the volatility factor of the market. There is a dire need for professional experts who are able to provide advice on commodity trading and build commodity inclusive portfolios. Such professional awareness, expertise, and guidance in commodity trading can come from professional commodity traders called commodity trading advisors (CTAs). The purpose of this paper is to offer arguments and insights as to why the Indian commodity market needs the participation of the CTAs. The money brought in by CTA advised clients will add to the depth, liquidity, and trade which in turn will make commodity prices more efficient. As a regulatory measure, the Indian market too can adopt guidelines structured for CTAs by Commodity Future Trading Commission and National Futures Association. The CTAs can bring the Indian commodity market at par with developed commodity markets like Chicago Board of Trade.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews and discusses the various issues related to CTAs applicability in India. The goal of the paper is to outline the need for allowing CTAs activity in Indian commodity market and discuses the key operational and policy considerations in developing the commodity market for CTAs in India.

Findings

The recent expansion of Indian commodity market has not been very structured. The market has expanded with the expansion in demand for commodities both in spot and derivative market. There have been constraints through policy restrictions and at the same time there has been an effort for liberalization of the commodity market to bring them at par with international commodity market. Of late, the Indian equity market has been very volatile. Participation of CTAs will provide much required downside protection to traditional portfolios and they will also provide the expertise in commodity derivative trading to participants and help build the commodity inclusive portfolios with better return and lesser risk.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that initiates thoughts on allowing CTAs to participate in the Indian commodity market. The paper builds on the concept that CTAs would add the desired price discovery, volume, and depth to the Indian commodity market. The Indian commodity market, despite being quite old, has recently broken free from the restrictive policies and has ushered into an era of initiates supporting commodity derivative market development. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there exists no literature on CTAs participation in India.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2013

Brajesh Kumar and Ajay Pandey

In this paper, the authors aim to investigate the short‐run as well as long‐run market efficiency of Indian commodity futures markets using different asset pricing models. Four…

1789

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the authors aim to investigate the short‐run as well as long‐run market efficiency of Indian commodity futures markets using different asset pricing models. Four agricultural (soybean, corn, castor seed and guar seed) and seven non‐agricultural (gold, silver, aluminium, copper, zinc, crude oil and natural gas) commodities have been tested for market efficiency and unbiasedness.

Design/methodology/approach

The long‐run market efficiency and unbiasedness is tested using Johansen cointegration procedure while allowing for constant risk premium. Short‐run price dynamics is investigated with constant and time varying risk premium. Short‐run price dynamics with constant risk premium is modeled with ECM model and short‐run price dynamics with time varying risk premium is modeled using ECM‐GARCH in‐Mean framework.

Findings

As far as long‐run efficiency is concerned, the authors find that near month futures prices of most of the commodities are cointegrated with the spot prices. The cointegration relationship is not found for the next to near months futures contracts, where futures trading volume is low. The authors find support for the hypothesis that thinly traded contracts fail to forecast future spot prices and are inefficient. The unbiasedness hypothesis is rejected for most of the commodities. It is also found that for all commodities, some inefficiency exists in the short run. The authors do not find support of time varying risk premium in Indian commodity market context.

Originality/value

In context of Indian commodity futures markets, probably this is the first study which explores the short‐run market efficiency of futures markets in time varying risk premium framework. This paper also links trading activity of Indian commodity futures markets with market efficiency.

Details

Journal of Indian Business Research, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-4195

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2022

Palak Dewan and Khushdeep Dharni

The study examines herding in the Indian stock and commodity futures market including agricultural, metal and energy commodities. Herding is studied under various market

Abstract

Purpose

The study examines herding in the Indian stock and commodity futures market including agricultural, metal and energy commodities. Herding is studied under various market conditions: rising and declining, high and low volatility. The study also examines spillover effects of herding.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adapts the cross-sectional absolute deviation model given by Chang et al. (2000) to examine herding in Indian stock and commodity futures markets.

Findings

The results of the study indicate absence of herding among commodity futures under all market conditions except for the declining market where herding is present among energy futures. The investors investing in agricultural and energy commodities have a higher tendency to herd during high volatility days as compared to low volatility days. Further, the study of herding spillover effects indicates that the price fluctuations in metal commodities affect herding in agricultural and energy commodities.

Research limitations/implications

The results can help market participants to diversify the risk by investing in agricultural, metal and energy futures along with the stocks.

Originality/value

Majority of the previous studies explore herding among stocks and ignore commodities especially agricultural commodities. This study attempts to fill the gap by studying herding among various commodity futures. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to explore herding spillover effects in the Indian stock and commodity futures market.

Details

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, vol. 13 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-0839

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 March 2018

Debashish Maitra

The purpose of this paper is to understand the volatility in commodity futures and spot markets. The study starts with a few questions: first, the effect of seasonality on the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the volatility in commodity futures and spot markets. The study starts with a few questions: first, the effect of seasonality on the volatility is studied. Thereafter, the presence of structural breaks in the variance is identified. At last the seasonality, structural shifts and spillover effects are examined together to find out their effects on volatility.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology heavily employs econometric tools and techniques. The monthly seasonal dummies are incorporated to identify the effects of seasonality on volatility. Then, the presence of break in volatility is tested by cumulative sum of squares (CUSUM test), followed by generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastictity and EGARCH models are measured by including seasonal dummies, break dummies and the residuals of other market in the variance equation to determine spillover effects.

Findings

It is found that the effects of seasonality on volatility cannot be ignored as the effects are significant. The presence of asymmetry is detected in all the commodities. The presence of seasonality and structural breaks in the variance equation are statistically able to reduce the volatility but the magnitude is very negligible with an exception in cumin futures markets. Bi-directional volatility spillover between futures and spot markets is observed in all the commodities and the effect of spillover is more from spot markets to the futures markets.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to a few agro commodities which are well traded. This study could have been extended to the other thinly traded commodities. This study has also taken only near month futures contracts as it contains more information but the same could have been studied by taking far month contracts also.

Originality/value

The present study attempted to understand the conjugated effects of seasonality, structural breaks and spillover on volatility of commodity markets which is not apparent in the previous studies. This study has also employed methodological rigor to identify the breaks in the variance equation. In addition to this it has also investigated whether Indian commodity futures markets are informationally more efficient than the spot markets.

Details

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-0839

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 July 2014

Mantu Kumar Mahalik, Debashis Acharya and M. Suresh Babu

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the price discovery and volatility spillovers in Indian spot-futures commodity markets.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the price discovery and volatility spillovers in Indian spot-futures commodity markets.

Design/methodology/approach

The study has used four futures and spot indices of Multi-Commodity Exchange, Mumbai. The study also employs vector error correction model (VECM) and bivariate exponential Garch model (EGARCH) to analyze the price discovery and volatility spillovers in Indian spot-futures commodity market.

Findings

The VECM shows that agriculture future price index (LAGRIFP), energy future price index (LENERGYFP) and aggregate commodity index (LCOMDEXFP) effectively serve the price discovery function in the spot market implying that there is a flow of information from future to spot commodity markets but the reverse causality does not exist. There is no cointegrating relationship between metal future price index (LMETALFP) and metal spot price index (LMETALSP). Besides the bivariate EGARCH model indicates that although the innovations in one market can predict the volatility in another market, the volatility spillovers from future to the spot market are dominant in the case of LENERGY and LCOMDEX index while LAGRISP acts as a source of volatility toward the agri-futures market.

Research limitations/implications

The results are aggregate in nature. Further study at disaggregated level will provide further insights on behavior of specific commodity prices and the price discovery process.

Originality/value

The paper provides useful information about the evolution and structures of futures commodity trading in India, related literature and relevant methodology concerning the hypotheses.

Details

Journal of Advances in Management Research, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0972-7981

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2014

Tarun Kumar Soni

The purpose of this paper is to study the market efficiency, unbiasedness and the direction of causality among four agricultural commodity futures contracts for a forecasting…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the market efficiency, unbiasedness and the direction of causality among four agricultural commodity futures contracts for a forecasting horizon of 28 days, 56 days and 84 days which are traded at National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd.

Design/methodology/approach

To analyse the efficiency of futures market in Indian scenario, we focus on maize, chickpea, soybean and wheat which are among the most important agricultural commodities traded in India. In the first step, Augmented Dickey-Fuller test and nonparametric Phillips-Perron approaches have been used to examine the stationarity of all futures and spot price series. After testing the presence of cointegration in futures and spot series using Johansen’s Cointegration approach, the joint restrictions of β 0=0, β 1=1 and β 1=1 on the cointegrating vectors were imposed to test whether the futures price is an unbiased predictor of spot at contract maturity. In the next step, linear Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and the nonparametric Diks and Panchenko (2006) causality tests were applied to examine the direction of causality. Finally, nonlinear test were applied on the vector error correction model (VECM) residuals to investigate whether any remaining causality is strictly nonlinear in nature.

Findings

The results of cointegration tests between futures and spot prices of the selected agricultural commodities indicated a long term relationship do exist in three out of four futures contracts. However, the Wald tests results on the cointegrating vectors indicate markets as inefficient and biased. Further, analysis of short-term relationship using alternate tests of causality do not give consistent results for same commodity series indicating that results may vary due to alternate measures and specifications. Finally, if we consider the results of Diks-Panchenko test on the filtered VECM-residuals, results provide evidence that if cointegration is taken into account; neither spot nor future leads or lags the other consistently.

Research limitations/implications

The results are based on the sample of four agricultural futures commodity contracts. The study can be extended to a larger sample of contracts and relative efficiency of each contract can be explored.

Originality/value

There are very few studies that have explored the efficiency, unbiasedness and direction of causality using both linear and nonlinear techniques for Indian agriculture commodity futures market for different forecasting horizons.

Details

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-0839

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2021

Manogna R.L. and Aswini Kumar Mishra

Market efficiency leads to transparent and fair price discovery of commodity markets, thus enhancing the value chain for competitive benefit. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

Market efficiency leads to transparent and fair price discovery of commodity markets, thus enhancing the value chain for competitive benefit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the market efficiency of Indian agricultural commodities at spot, futures and mandi markets apart from exploring price risk management in these markets.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses Johansen co-integration, vector error correction model and granger causality for analyzing market efficiency of the nine most liquid agricultural commodities across three markets, namely, spot, futures and mandi. All these nine commodities are traded on National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange.

Findings

The statistical results indicate price discovery exists in the mandi market and spot market leading to futures prices. Mandi price returns are seen to negatively influence futures returns in the case of cotton seed, guar seed and spot returns in the case of jeera, coriander and chana. For castor seed, the three markets are seen to have no long run relationship. The results of Granger causality reveal short run relationship between all the three markets in the case of soybean seed and coriander. In these commodities, prices in all three markets are capable of predicting the prices in the other markets. For the case of cottonseed, Rape Mustard seed, jeera, guar seed, the results indicate unidirectional causality between the mandi markets and the other two markets.

Research limitations/implications

These results shall facilitate policymakers to explore intervention through integrated agri-platform (IAP) in price discovery and market efficiency.

Practical implications

The results of this study are useful in understanding the price discovery of mandi markets and its role in the spot and futures market. Agricultural commodities price discovery depends upon the integration of all these three markets. Introduction of IAP as described in the paper shall facilitate price risk management apart from improving the efficiency of price discovery.

Originality/value

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study considering mandi, spot and futures prices in the price discovery process in India. In addition, this study found the role of mandi markets in serving the economic function of price discovery and price risk management. Hence, suggests for policy intervention for Indian agricultural commodities to manage price risk.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 May 2021

A.N. Vijayakumar

Transparent and fair price discovery is essential to commodity market participants in the trade value chain for competitive benefit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate…

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Abstract

Purpose

Transparent and fair price discovery is essential to commodity market participants in the trade value chain for competitive benefit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the price discovery of Indian cardamom at e-auction, spot and futures markets in addition to the existence of the day of the week effect at e-auction apart from exploring a novel price risk management framework.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used Johansen co-integration, vector error correction model, Granger causality and regression with dummy variables to understand a day of the week effect in high-value agri-commodity of cardamom e-auction prices. These price data were based on authenticated sources of Spices Board India and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.

Findings

The statistical results indicate price discovery exists in the e-auction market and it leads to spot and futures prices. cardamom e-auction prices are negatively related to cardamom futures and positively related to spot prices. It also finds the non-existence of the day of the week effect in the high-value cardamom e-auction system in India. The study revealed that a cardamom e-auction is more active in price discovery than a cardamom futures contract.

Research limitations/implications

These results shall facilitate policymakers to explore intervention of online forward market mechanism at the national level to ensure price discovery and market efficiency. However, the study did not explore reasons for the non-equilibrium of a cardamom futures contract with spot and e-auction market.

Practical implications

The results of this study are useful in understanding the price discovery of cardamom e-auction and its role in the spot and futures market. Cardamom price discovery depends upon the e-auction system; any change of auction policy shall be binding on Indian cardamom prices. The introduction of an online forward market mechanism as described in the paper shall facilitate price risk management apart from improving the efficiency of price discovery.

Originality/value

This is the first study considering cardamom e-auction, spot and futures prices in the price discovery process in India. Statistical results of a day of the week effect clearly show no significant volatility of cardamom prices during the week. Besides, this study did not find the role of cardamom futures contracts intended to serve the economic function of price discovery and price risk management. Hence, suggests policy intervention for implementing an online Forward Market mechanism for Indian cardamom to ensure market efficiency and manage price risk.

Details

Vilakshan - XIMB Journal of Management, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0973-1954

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 September 2014

Thiagu Ranganathan and Usha Ananthakumar

The National commodity exchanges were established in India in the year 2003-2004 to perform the functions of price discovery and price risk management in the economy. The…

1352

Abstract

Purpose

The National commodity exchanges were established in India in the year 2003-2004 to perform the functions of price discovery and price risk management in the economy. The derivatives market can perform these functions properly only if they are efficient and unbiased. So, there is a need to properly evaluate these aspects of the Indian commodity derivatives market. The purpose of this paper is to test the market efficiency and unbiasedness of the Indian soybean futures markets.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses cointegration and a QARCH-M-ECM-based framework to test the market efficiency and unbiasedness in the soybean futures contract traded in the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX). The cointegration test is used to test the long-run unbiasedness and market efficiency of the contract, while the QARCH-M-ECM model is used to test the short-run market efficiency and unbiasedness of the contract by allowing for a time-varying risk premium. The price data is also tested for presence of structural breaks using a Zivot and Andrews unit root test.

Findings

The soybean contract is unbiased in the long run, but there are short-run market inefficiencies and also a presence of a time-varying risk premium. Though the weak form of market efficiency is rejected in the short run, the semi-strong market efficiency is not rejected based on the forecasts.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to consider time-varying risk premium while performing the tests of market efficiency and unbiasedness on Indian commodity markets.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2015

Prabhati Kumari Misra and Kishor Goswami

The forecasting power of commodity futures is a matter of intensive research as evidenced by a number of related publications. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how…

Abstract

Purpose

The forecasting power of commodity futures is a matter of intensive research as evidenced by a number of related publications. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how advanced forecasting techniques improve the predictability of sugar futures in the Indian commodity market.

Design/methodology/approach

The forward premium is estimated using ordinary least square regression technique. Different linear and nonlinear models are used to forecast the sugar future spot prices from the futures prices. The forecasting accuracy of each pair of models is then compared by estimating the corresponding Diebold-Mariano test statistics.

Findings

From the estimated forward premiums, it is found that there is more volatility toward the date of maturity for a three-month horizon compared to six-month, and 12-month horizons. It is established that the futures prices of sugar, when used in a model, are able to generate better forecasts for the future spot prices. Moreover, the forecasting accuracy is found to be better for a shorter futures horizon.

Research limitations/implications

The present study is restricted only to sugar. If sufficient data are available, the same study could be extended to other commodities as well. The findings imply that technical traders would benefit by using advanced forecasting techniques along with futures prices of sugar to determine the expected future spot prices.

Practical implications

The findings in this paper suggest that though simple statistical models may be adopted to relate future spot prices to futures prices, more accurate prediction of the price behavior is possible with advanced forecasting methods like the artificial neural network.

Social implications

The findings will help market participants such as traders to be better informed about the future spot prices and hence get a better deal.

Originality/value

This is one of the first investigations to assess the predictability of commodity futures by employing advanced forecasting techniques.

Details

Agricultural Finance Review, vol. 75 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-1466

Keywords

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