The Effect of Environmental and Currency Uncertainty on Stock Return Volatility in The Petrochemical and Petroleum Products Suppliers Companies

Market uncertainty is when investors have difficulty in assessing current and future market conditions because there is a lot of volatility in the market. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of environmental uncertainty and currency uncertainty on volatility of stock returns of Petrochemical and Petroleum Products Supplier companies which are listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE); these companies are active in all areas of the supply chain from extraction to retailing. In order to achieve the objectives of the research, research hypotheses were tested based on a statistical sample consisting of ۱۳ companies during a ۱۰-year period from ۲۰۱۲ to ۲۰۲۱ through the GMM estimation method with EViews. The findings of the research show that environmental and currency uncertainties intensify the volatility of companies' stock returns. These uncertainties in the previous period have the opposite effect on the volatility of stock returns in the current period. Also, the relationship of trading volume and stock price variables with stock return volatility is negative, because when market uncertainty is high, traders are expected to move more towards stocks of safer companies. The greater the volatility of returns in the previous period, it is expected that this will intensify the volatility of stock returns in this period as well. Examining volatility of stock returns can be useful in analyzing market participants' motivations.

Keywords:

Environmental uncertainty , Currency Uncertainty , Stock Return Volatility