Investigating the Role of Illiquidity in Explaining the UK Closed-End Country Fund Discount

In this paper we examine whether the UK closed-end country fund discounts are related to the illiquidity of the UK fund or the illiquidity of the country the fund invests in. We also consider whether emerging market country funds behave differently in terms of their discount and illiquidity to developed market country funds, and in particular whether they offer more stability during the period of the recent financial crisis. We find country illiquidity plays a significant role in the discount of emerging market funds. However, in developed market funds country illiquidity is not significant. Fund illiquidity, in contrast, is significant for developed market funds but not for emerging market funds. We find that investor sentiment is significant in the discount of both developed and emerging market funds. The recent financial crisis has had a widespread effect on the discount and illiquidity across both developed and emerging markets, but emerging market funds seem to have recovered to pre-crisis levels more quickly than funds investing in developed markets