Stock market reaction of political connections surrounding 2018 Malaysian general election

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between politically connected firms (PCON), types of PCON (patronage, clientelism, nepotism, cronyism and Bumiputra ownership), the age of the PCON and stock market reactions surrounding the 2018 Malaysian General Election (GE). Analyses were conducted by utilising data from firms listed on Bursa Malaysia. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression method was used to test the hypotheses. Based on the efficient capital market theory, Bursa Malaysia is deemed as a semi-strong efficiency market since the Malaysian stock market adjusted efficiently to the news of Barisan Nasional being defeated for the first time in the 2018 Malaysian GE. The political uncertainty theory indicated that firms were severely affected when exposed to high uncertainties of the government in power. Thus, significantly negative abnormal returns were experienced by PCON, while non-PCON showed significantly positive abnormal returns. The market also reacted significantly and negatively to types of PCON, such as patronage firms and clientelism firms. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between cronyism, nepotism, Bumiputra ownership, older PCON and stock market reactions. Further analysis using a non-parametric test showed that PCON types, such as patronage, clientelism and Bumiputra ownership firms contributed to a significantly negative stock market reaction. This indicates that these types of firms were statistically lower stock market reaction than non-PCON. Further analyses generated a unique list of PCON related to the main political figures namely, Mahathir, Daim and Anwar, by refining and extending previous studies based on Malaysia's changing political scene. The outcomes of these studies may assist regulators, investors and PCON in managing their relationships with and in the stock markets.