Continuous Wavelet Transformation Based Nonparametric Granger Causality Test Analysis: A Research on Bist-30 Spot Index and Corresponding Futures Contract

Financial data frequently usually have complex nature consisting slowly changing trends, oscillations interspersed with abrupt changes. Wavelet analysis is useful to distract oscillations and produce time – frequency visualization of data efficiently. Thus, changes in data can be evaluated based on the changes in timing, frequency, and amplitudes of oscillations to reveal the dynamics of data. In this context, the causality relationship between BIST-30 index and index futures contracts was examined by taking into consideration the time dimension. BIST 30 index, is a main index for Turkey s capital markets. BİST 30 index contains various sectors such as manufacturing industry, banking and financial institutions and retail industry. This index is a significant indicator for Turkey capital markets. We can determine the effect of spot prices on future contracts by this index. We use Matlab for analysis. The data sets used in the study were obtained from www.investing.com. This study investigates the causality relationship between BIST-30 spot index and corresponding futures contract for the period of 02.07.2012 – 30.11.2018 with total of daily 1613 observations. This study uses continuous wavelet transformation based nonparametric Granger causality test. This study finds that both direction and amplitude of the causality pattern vary based on fluctuations with the period of 16 days, the periods between 16-128 days, and the periods larger than 256 days. These patterns occur mainly due to political, economics, and financial reasons, which also have effects on global markets. As a result, we found that financial markets volatility change in time, investors can determine the prices of the future contracts with spot prices and have to take care relations between spot and futures prices for future investments.