The main objective of this study is to provide additional evidence
on the impact of actual share repurchases on liquidity in transactions
conducted by Thai listed firms over the period of thirteen years from
2002 to 2014. The justifications of focussing on Thailand are as follows.
Firstly, the Thai capital market is dramatically different from that of the
U.S. and most developed markets. Thailand is a younger, smaller, less
sophisticated country and its stock market is seen to be more volatile
and substantially less liquid. Rhee and Wang (2009) indicate that the
lack of liquidity is a key determinant for high volatility in emerging
markets and can impede stock market development. Further, investors
tend to consider liquidity as a critical factor when making investment
in emerging markets because their returns can be substantially reduced
after accounting for liquidity cost (Bekaert, Harvey, & Lundblad, 2007;
Agudelo, 2010). Despite the importance of stock liquidity for emerging
markets such as Thailand, little investigation into such topic has been
undertaken.