Yaser A. Alkulaib

Kuwait University | KU · Department of Finance & Financial Institutions

This study investigates and compares the performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks in Kuwait by using financial measures and a Student’s t-test. Empirical results for the period 2007–2010 show that Islamic banks outperformed conventional banks in terms of liquidity measured by the current ratio. However, no statistically significant diffe...

Gold is known to be a stable investment in times of political and economic uncertainty. Our article is the first to examine the diversification benefits of including gold in the portfolio of a Kuwaiti investor. Our empirical results for the period Jan 2000 to May 2011 show that Kuwaiti investors will gain benefits by adding gold to their portfolios...

The relaxation of security laws and regulations in emerging markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides abundant opportunities for foreign investors. These markets exhibit high-expected returns and substantial volatility. In this paper, we investigate the lead/lag relationship between the MENA countries and regions. We find no marke...

Few number of days accounts for most of the returns delivered by precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium). A passive buy and hold investment strategy in precious metals outperforms market timers who miss the best 5, 10 and 50 days by 51%, 71% and 98%, respectively. Likewise, long-term performance of precious metals is largely determin...

Capital budgeting is an important tool in corporate finance, which is supported with numerous methods. Previous researches in this field shows that simple methods of capital budgeting are preferred over complex methods. With an objective to adopt relevant modification in the academic sector this paper evaluates the preferred capital budgeting pract...

Despite the controversy surrounding the credibility of credit rating agencies' rating systems, these agencies' ratings still play a crucial role in determining the premium paid by governments on their bonds. As a result, obtaining a high sovereign credit rating would lower borrowing costs and more demand for their bonds. In order to do so, policyma...

This study aims to examine whether or not Kuwaiti banks are overstaffed based on the data of ten Kuwaiti banks listed at Kuwait stock exchange (KSE) over the period 2010-2018. Using panel regression analysis, the results show that six banks were overstaffed while the remaining four banks were understaffed. Kuwait Finance House (KFH) was the most ov...

Insurance is a crucial component of any financial sector, the financial soundness of the insurance sector will result in a healthier financial system in any country. The insurance sector is responsible for transferring risk from one entity to another, for premium, to hedge against any risk of unexpected loss. For that, the insurance sector plays th...

This paper examines the profitability of using an emerging market currency that is pegged to a basket of undisclosed currencies in carry trade against floating currencies using conventional, forecasted-based carry trade and the drift factor. Carry trade is known to be a lucrative speculation currency strategy that is popular among all levels of inv...

It has been well documented that carry trade is a profitable strategy specially when held for long periods. Literature have shown that such strategy can be very rewarding, matching the return of the S&P 500 and exceeding it in terms of the Sharpe ratio. Carry traders take advantage of interest rate differential between currencies by funding their i...

Carry trade is an investment strategy in which investors borrow low-yield currency and invest it in a high-yield currency, hoping to profit from the interest-rate differential. Based on uncovered interest parity (UIP), carry trade should not work, but studies have shown that UIP does not hold. This failure has led to unprecedented returns for that...

This paper tests weak-form market efficiency of CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) over the period 2002-2012. We apply unit root tests and variance ratio tests to investigate if these equity markets follow a random walk. The empirical results indicate that our unit root results imply that CIVETS follow a random wa...

The relaxation of security laws and regulations in emerging markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides abundant opportunities for foreign investors. These markets exhibit high-expected returns and substantial volatility. In this paper, we investigate the lead/lag relationship between the MENA countries and regions. We find no marke...