Abstract

We investigate the impact of stock index futures on the information environment of listed firms through the launch of Shanghai-Shenzhen 300 stock index futures (CSI 300 index) as natural experiment on April 16, 2010. We employ difference in difference analysis and apply the PIN indicator (the probability of informed trading) to measure information asymmetry. We found that the CSI 300 index significantly reduce the information asymmetry of CSI 300 companies. For the companies with higher market capitalization, higher turnover rate and higher institutional investor’s rate, the impact of stock index future on the corporate information environment is more significant. The results of this paper provide new evidence for evaluating the impacts of Chinese stock index futures.

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