The objective of the paper is to determine whether the linkage between stock returns and exchange rates in several Eastern European countries was in accordance with the flow oriented model or the portfolio-balance approach. The dynamic interdependence between exchange rate and stock returns is determined using the Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) framework. The results pointed to a negative dynamic correlation which is in line with portfolio-balance approach. Rolling regression revealed that conditional correlation was affected primarily by conditional volatility of currency, while the impact of stock returns volatility was negligible.
S28Dynamic Correlation Between Stock Returns and Exchange Rate S29 the portfolio-balance approach. The flow oriented model asserts that appreciation/depreciation of domestic currency decreases/increases the international competitiveness which eventually influences the balance of trade position as well as country's output. Higher/lower cash flows of companies are consequently transferred to the higher/lower values of stock prices. This stance focuses on the current account of the country's trade balance and advocates a positive correlation between two variables. On the other hand, portfolio-balance approach accentuates country's capital account and demand/supply on the stock markets as well as currency market. It predicts that currency depreciation will cause lower demand of domestic stocks which eventually diminishes their value, while currency appreciation will render the opposite effect. Consequently, portfolio-balance approach advocates negative correlation between these categories.This paper analyses the dynamic interdependence between exchange rate and stock returns in four major East European emerging countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia) which did not conduct the policies of the fixed exchange rate in the observed period. Some of those countries have led a de facto flexible exchange rate (the Czech Republic and Poland), while Hungary has pursued a fixed regime with wide bands. The Russian currency was characterized by tight management until 2008, followed by greater flexibility afterwards. The paper has a three-fold contribution. Firstly, it supplements the existing literature on this topic. As claimed by Ulku and Demirci, (2012), there is a lack of research conducted on correlation between stock markets and exchange rates in European emerging markets. Secondly, the analysis is done by using Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) multivariate GARCH models developed by Engle (2002), which could indicate a more direct interdependence between these two assets. This particular approach allows the correlations to change over time, utilizing the flexibility of univariate GARCH but without the perplexity of conventional multivariate GARCH. It implies computational advantages of DCC model over multivariate GARCH models, meaning that the number of parameters to be estimated in the correlation process is independent of the number of series to be correlated, En...