Speculation or hedging in the Irish stock exchange

This study provides some evidence on the speulation or hedging motives of traders as extracted from the recent Llorente et al . (2002) model, for the Irish stock exchange. It is clear that the findings of Llorente et al. and Ciner (2003) do not transfer well to the Irish case. The more complex the econometric methodology the less the propositions of the model are supported by the data. A simple model provides evidence of significant speculation in the Irish market, while a more complex GARCH formulation with volume included as an explanatory variable in the conditional variance provides little support for the propositions of Llorente et al . Further research therefore is indicated.