Risk and return nexus in Malaysian stock market: Empirical evidence from CAPM

This paper examines the applicability of CAPM in explaining the risk-return relation in the Malaysian stock market for the period of January 1995 to December 2006. The test, using linear regression method, was carried out on four models: the standard CAPM model with constant beta (Model I), the standard CAPM model with time-varying beta (Model II), the CAPM model conditional on segregating positive and negative market risk premiums with constant beta (Model III), as well as the CAPM model conditional on segregating positive and negative market risk premiums with time varying beta (Model IV). Empirical results indicate that both the standard CAPM models (Model I and Model II) are statistically insignificant. However, the CAPM models conditional on segregating positive and negative market risk premiums (Model III and Model IV) are statistically significant. In addition, this study also discovers that time varying beta provides better explanatory power.