Stock return comovements and integration within the Latin American integrated market

Abstract: Financial integration has been pursued aggressively across the globe in the last ?fty years; however, there is no conclusive evidence on the diversi?cation gains (or losses) of such e?orts. These gains (or losses) are related to the degree of comovements and synchronization among increasingly integrated global markets. We quantify the degree of comovements within the integrated Latin American market (MILA). We use dynamic correlation models to quantify comovements across securities as well as a direct integration measure. Our results show an increase in comovements when we look at the country indexes, however, the increase in the trend when we look at the country indexes, however, the increase in the trend grated market in the region. On the other hand, when we look at sector indexes and an integration measure, we ?nd a decreased in comovements among a representative sample of securities form the integrated market.