Abstract:
The upsurge of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on
financial markets as well as social and political repercussions around the
world. Investors‘ decisions were impacted by the widespread that media
coverage of the pandemic brought on by the disease's spread. Between 1st
February 2020 and 28th February 2022 is the specific focus period of this
research. The study's goal is to evaluate and analyse how Africa's stock
markets responded dynamically to COVID-19-related news utilizing quantilein-
quantile regression and quantile regression as its methods of estimate. In
relation to the aim of this research, the findings indicated that the panic index
has a positive and significant impact on the stock returns in a bearish market
and a significant and adverse influence on a bullish market in Nigeria,
Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, and Mauritius. The results also show
that a decrease in fake news produces a rise in stock returns in Ghana,
Mauritius, Egypt, and South Africa, and vice versa in extreme market
conditions. However, Fake news has no impact on the returns of the indices
when the market is either bullish or bearish in Morocco and Nigeria. Also, the
media coverage index has an adverse and significant impact on both the lower
and upper quantiles for Ghana, Morocco, and South Africa, as well as all
quantiles for Nigeria and Mauritius. This study suggests that more intensive
use of proper communication channels is required to mitigate COVID-19-
related financial turbulence. The government may adopt accurate and reliable
dissemination of information or news about the COVID-19 outbreak through
proper channels of communication.
