The study of effect of stock prices to earnings announcements

Speed of stock price response is important because if response is slow, the informed and alert investors would exploit it to earn abnormal returns by outperforming the market. This implies that market is inefficient in the semi-strong form. The study tests the reaction Indian stock market reaction to June 2014 quarterly financial results announcement. The study is based on 98 companies. The researcher used event study methodology. The behaviour of average abnormal returns (AARs) and cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs) are examined for 30 days prior to and 31 days after the announcement of quarterly financial results. Runs test, sign test and t-test statistics on AARs are statistically not significant. However, t-values on CAARs are statistically significant. Therefore, we conclude that Indian stock market is not efficient in the semi-strong form.