Optimal Hedging when the Underlying Asset Follows a Regime-switching Markov Process

We develop a flexible discrete-time hedging methodology that minimizes the expected value of any desired penalty function of the hedging error within a general regime-switching framework. A numerical algorithm based on backward recursion allows for the sequential construction of an optimal hedging strategy. Numerical experiments comparing this and other methodologies show a relative expected penalty reduction ranging between 0.9% and 12.6% with respect to the best benchmark.