Abstract:
To examine the effect of directors's trades on abnormal return in Thai stock market. The result shows that there is siginificant in information content in insider trade. Thai corporate insiders can earn abnormal return by trading on their own stocks. Moreover, the result suggests that outside investors who mimic the trading of insiders can also make profits. The study suggests that CEOs, a group of insiders, of Thai firms have more valuable information of the company's future prospects than others insiders in longer periods. Most of Thai firms have family control structure; the evidences suggest that corporate insider trading in only sale transactions with concentrated shareholders can significantly earn abnormal returns. Even though the large market capitalized firms are monitored by both analysts and investors, insiders in these firms can still earn abnormal return. The finding of this study shows that even the strict regulation for compaines regarding the 3-day reporting interval is imposed by the SEC of Thailand; insider trading information leakage is still evident. In other words, outsiders can make significant abnormal profits by trading like insiders. The empirical result shows that the cumulative abnormal returns of sale transaction canbe use as a signal for the future performance of the companies.