The present paper examines the dynamic effects of volatility spillovers and dominant role (the second-moment) of the US, Japan and Hong Kong in the East Asian equity markets. To evaluate the recent September 11 (911) impact, two sub periods – before and after the tragedy, are being considered based on daily market returns. The upshots of our findings are five-fold. First, for all markets the constant risk components, as well as the ARCH and GARCH effects are significantly detected, implying the persistency of volatility in East Asian equity markets. Nevertheless, not all indexes show asymmetrical news effects. Though all indexes show leverage effects, they are significant only for certain countries including the US and Japan, which is consistent with empirical literature. Second, the volatilities of these equity markets are bounded in common stochastic trends, at least in the long run. Third, the Hong Kong long run coefficients are more significant than that of US or Japan before the 911 calamity. Nonetheless, there is sufficient evidence showing that the US spillovers were transmitted via Hong Kong. After the 911, the Hong Kong’s spillovers trim down while Japanese influence enhance as in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Taken as a whole (1998-2002), Japanese spillovers are relatively small and nonsignificant in some East Asian equity markets. Fourth, the ECT coefficients are significant but small (except for Hong Kong). The East Asian equity markets are thereby endogenously determined and the volatility adjustments to the long run equilibrium are slow, once being shocked. The ECT coefficients slightly improved after 911. Fifth, volatilities in the East Asian equity markets are attributed mainly to the shocks of local and regional factors rather than the world factor. In a nutshell, the volatility spillovers and the Hong Kong- and US-dominant effects have been confirmed. Hitherto, the 911 impact is relatively small and somewhat inconclusive.
