Daily momentum profits with firm characteristics and investors’ optimism in the Taiwan market

In this paper, we examine two different investing attitudes, being conservative sentiment which mitigates the momentum effect and, alternatively, the optimistic sentiment which strengthens such an effect. Where the stock market index levels close near a previous peak level, the impact of the index on momentum profits can assist in identifying such sentiments. In this study, we investigate the price and price-size momentum strategies in Taiwan of short formation periods of less than a month. The results indicate that investors adopt optimistic attitudes towards the 5-day and 20-day highs in the market index, whereas a conservative attitude is adopted at the 52-week high. Using the quantile regression model, the results indicate that the momentum effect is mitigated when the stock index price is relatively high for higher momentum profits. On the other hand, the momentum effect is strengthened when the stock index price is relatively high for lower momentum profits. However, the high point of the stock index is not found to have any impact on the price-B/M momentum effect.