COVID-19 and Palestinian Stock Market Returns: An ARDL Approach

Effects of COVID-19 on stock exchanges has been proved internationally. However, existing theories and studies have always questioned the uniform responses of all types of markets to the same events. In this study, we examined the effect of Covid-19 on the stock market returns of Al-Quds index of the Palestine Exchange, an emerging market with political instability. COVID-19 was represented by the daily COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths and the stringency of the lockdown. Mixed evidence was observed. While the effect of the lagged values of the change in stock return and the stringency of the lockdown on the change in stock return are confirmed, the new cases and the new deaths however had no effect.