The Market Impact of Private Information before Corporate Announcements : Evidence from Turkey

Before their announcements are publicized on the regulatory agency’s Public Disclosure Platform (PDP) website, Turkish public firms privately upload their disclosures to the PDP servers with electronic signatures. Using the electronic signature timestamps of the announcements made between 2009 and 2017, we find significant abnormal trading activity in announcer firm stocks immediately after the appearance of these private uploads on the PDP servers. Abnormal volume after privately signed uploads is most significant when the subsequent market reaction to the announcements is positive. These findings withstand various robustness tests and are strongest for firms with weak governance practices