Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of Value-at-Risk (VaR) models for nine Middle East and North Africa Islamic indices using RiskMetrics and VaR parametric models.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test the performance of several VaR models using Kupiec and Engle and Manganelli tests at 95 and 99 per cent levels for long and short trading positions, respectively, for the period from August 10, 2006 to December 14, 2014.
Findings
The authors' findings show that the VaR under Student and skewed Student distribution are preferred at a 99 per cent level VaR. However, at 95 per cent level, the VaR forecasts obtained under normal distribution are more accurate than those generated using models with fat-tailed distributions. These results suggest that VaR is a good tool for measuring market risk. The authors support the use of RiskMetrics during calm periods and the asymmetric models (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic and the Asymmetric Power ARCH model) during stressed periods.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the knowledge in this area by improving our understanding of market risk management for Islamic assets during the stress periods. Then, it highlights important implications regarding financial risk management. Finally, this study fills a gap in the literature, as most empirical studies dealing with evaluating VaR prediction models have focused on quantifying the model risk in the conventional market.