INTRODUCTION:

Stock market investment is associated with risk and uncertainty. However, if an investor conduct or carefully analyses various market trend and invest accordingly. There is great probability to derive above average return. Changes that take place due to up and downs of business cycle are called cyclical changes and if they trends are identified well in advance through various indicator like leading ,lagging and coincident and invest based on these trends to derive above average return. All stocks belonging to different companies are affected differently by different market trends. If an investor shift from one asset class to another in response to changes that are affected by business cycle it called as rotational strategy. In spite of volatility or fluctuation, there are certain securities that can resist or perform better than other in a particular trend formed by markets performs.

Structural changes are because of way a economy is undergoing change or re -structuring of economy. The job of investor is to identify such trend and purchase those securities that are best suited during a particular trend.

Leading. The upcoming phase in economy can be predicted with the help of leading indicator. These are some indicator that reaches peak and trough before corresponding peak and trough in economy like it is believed that prices of securities or stock will increase before arrival of recession. Hence increase in prices of stock is seen as a leading indicator and is used a tool for restructuring of portfolio or asset allocation Coincident. These variable are visible at the same time or they coincide with the particular phase of business cycle like wage rate etc Lagging. These are those indicators, which reaches corresponding peak, and trough after peak and trough in business cycle .these are visible in economy after six month of particular trend in business cycle as unemployment will be visible after recession ends.

All these indicator help investor in making appropriate asset allocation inspite of the fact that phase of business cycle is not favorable. Understanding of these indicators mean, we can judge the direction in which our economy is heading. Today professional use these as tool for deciding about timing and amount of wealth to be committed for earning superior returns. Volatility or fluctuation in economy mean there are still good number of stocks who perform or give risk adjusted return irrespective of current market conditions. Now following are the stocks and companies to which they belong and phase of business cycle when they outperform of risk-adjusted returns. A serious investment cannot be started unless and until investor do not have money to cover for contingencies, emergencies etc. The thumb rule is that investor must have cash equivalent to six months before going for investment. The next step for the investor will be to buy sufficient insurance so that he should be able to achieve its financial goal. Once investor has adequate cash and insurance than serious, investment can be started.

Different companies and their stock perform differently during a particular phase of business cycle. Some perform well during peak and other do not. The success of investment depends on anticipating the market trend and investing in that stocks that performs well during those trends. It is believed that at the end of recession financial stock should be purchased, as their prices will increase since majority of stock will be undervalued due to low confidence of investor. Therefore, financial companies and brokerage houses are considered suitable investment at that time. Similarly, at the time of recovery stock of entertainment companies, TV, Refrigerator, car etc are considered suitable as people disposable income increases. Later on, confidence of investor become high and they start investing in stock of companies manufacturing heavy goods and machinery. When the market is at peak companies engaged in converting raw material into finished products are preferred.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Bae and Joe (1999) analyses to know the effect of information released to see the changes in price volatility and trading volume of underlying stock. He used regression model and ratio analysis to derive results. The results indicate that volatility decreases from the pre-announcement period to the post –expiration period of right offering. The studies also indicate marketing of new issue or initial public offer that is unsubscribed on the firm stock as per revised information on the outcome of the right offering.

Daniel et al. (2002) based on his work provided extensive evidence that psychology biases affect investor behavior and prices. It also pointed out that individual as political participants remain subject to the biases and self-interest they exhibits in private settings. It also suggested that government and private planners should establish rules to improve efficiency of market through proper disclosure of information, reporting, advertising, and default-option-setting regulation.

Wang et al. (2006) investigated the behavior of investors in risky asset in Chinese stock markets. A detailed questionnaire was distributed to respondent by stratified random sampling technique .the study indicate low level of risk perception among investors. Moreover, investors are not professional and lack required skills. The paper highlight that information from organization institutional level can lead to low risk preference and collective culture in china may not be beneficial to risk management in Chinese stock markets.

Du and Budescu (2007) carried out work to find out influence of past volatility on individual investors forecasting behavior. The paper highlights that past volatility has a weak effect on future forecasts that were sensitive to minor changes in characteristics of price changes. Those works suggest that low past volatility increases investors confidence and improves forecast accuracy. Whereas high volatility lower investors confidence and increases the probability of uncertainty. Hibbert et al. (2008) conducted a research based on investigating the negative asymmetric risk-return tradeoff with the help of a new VIX volatility measure, analyzing intraday volatility and NASDAQ results. It studied the relationship between S&P 500-index return and change in implied volatility at daily and intraday level. The results pointed out behavior of traders consistent with empirical results of strong daily intraday returns.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

1. To study the demographic profile of investors in the study area.

2. To study the role of gender on investors investment decision making in stock market.

3. To identify the relationship between gender and investment dimensions like investment horizon, attitude towards risk, level of awareness etc

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Methodology has been followed based on the objectives and the concerned hypotheses..

Study Area:

The carried out in Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State. The information shall be collected from individual investors who have invested in share/Stock market through brokerage houses/companies /counters located in the study area.

Sample Unit:

There are many brokerage houses operating in the study area. Out of the total top five namely India Bulls Securities, Share Khan Ltd, Angel Broking Ltd, Kotak Securities, and HDFC Securities, shall be selected for the present study.

Data Collection:

The based on both the primary and secondary data. Primary collected through detailed questionnaire, which will be presented to investors who have made investment in shares/stocks. Secondary data will be collected from different sources like websites, newspapers, magazines, research journals, reports, monograms, proceedings of seminars, conferences and published and unpublished works of Government and Non- Governmental Organizations. All the information /data collected through different sources shall be analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools and techniques to achieve the desired output.

Dimensions of Investment versus Gender:

The data related to investors gender and its impact or influence on different dimensions of the investment such as holding period/investment horizon, attitude towards risk in stock market, awareness towards various trends, attitude towards market trends and movements, weather market trends and movements adversely affect or not, how much investors are affected by adverse market trends and movements. Total respondents in the present study are 380, out of total 282 are males and 98 are females.

Variation in Investment Horizon with Gender:

The table shows that descriptive statistics of the investors based on the gender. Moreover, it is also observed from the table-holding period/ investment horizon as a dimension of retail investors’ behavior.

Table No.1.Descriptive statistics of Investment Horizon and Gender

Gender * WHAT IS YOUR AVERAGE HOLDING PERIOD
WHAT IS YOUR AVERAGE HOLDING PERIOD						Total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Gender		LESS THAN 6 MONTHS	6 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR	1 TO 2 YEARS	ABOVE 2 YEARS	Total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Male	Count	59	104	86	33	282	20.108^a	.000*
Male	%gender	20.9%	36.9%	30.5%	11.7%	100.0%
Female	Count	22	55	21	0	98
Female	%gender	22.4%	56.1%	21.4%	.0%	100.0%
Total	Count	81	159	107	33	380
Total	%gender	21.3%	41.8%	28.2%	8.7%	100.0%

*indicate significance level.

S.No	Gender	N	df	Chi-square value	Sig.	Remarks
1	Male	282	3	20.108^a	.000*	Significant
2	Female	98		20.108^a
3	Total	380

The values for Chi square test shows that chi-value is 20.108 and Sig. value being =.000* which is less than the value of α =.05, Therefore it may be concluded from the study that there exist a significant difference among males and females in their mean response in term of holding period /investment horizon. Based on the finding. H01, which state that Demographic factors have significant impact on individual’s investment decision making in securities is supported. From the above table it is also clearly visible that male have long time horizon as compared to that of female as not even a single female have investment horizon more than 2 years. It shows that male are long term investors compared to that of female as male have high concern for regular income as compared to that of female as they are bread earner and also responsible for most of the financial obligation of family. Variation in attitude towards risk in stock market with Gender

The table shows the descriptive statistics of the respondents based on gender and risk attitude towards investment in stock market.

Table.No.2. Descriptive statistics of Risk Attitude of individual investors towards risky asset.

Gender*investors attitude towards risk.

S,No	Gender	Yes	No	total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
1	Male count %within gender	247 87.6%	35 12.4%	282 100.0%	46.609^a	.000*
2	Female count %within gender	54 55.1%	44 44.9%	98 100.0%	46.609^a	.000*
3	Total count %within gender	301 79.2%	79 20.8%	380 100.0%

*Indicate significance level

The results shows that Chi square value is 46.609^a and Sig. value =.000*which is less than α =.05, therefore it may be concluded that there exist a significant difference between male and female in term of risk attitude as dimension of investors behavior. Based on theses finding, H02 that state that Demographic factors have significant impact on individual’s investment decision making in securities is supported. The high percentage of male compared to that of female really shows that male have more risk taking attitude as compared to that of female as they are willing to exposé their investment to high risk to earn high returns. Variation in investor’s awareness towards market trends with Gender

The table shows descriptive statistics of the respondents based on investor’s awareness towards market trends with Gender as investor’s dimension of investment in stock market.

Table.No.3.Descriptive statistics investors awareness towards market trends with Gender

Gender*are you aware about market trends and movements

S,No	Gender	Yes	No	Total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
1	Male count %within gender	262 92.9%	20 7.1%	282 100.0%	.122	.727
2	Female count %within gender	90 91.8%	8 8.2%	98 100.0%	.122	.727
3	Total count %within gender	352 92.6%	28 7.4%	380 100.0%

The results shows that Chi square value is .122 and Sig. value =.727 which is more than α =.05, therefore it may be concluded that there do not exist a significant difference between male and female in term of awareness towards market trends and movement in term of dimension of investors behavior. Based on theses finding, H03 that state that Demographic factors have significant impact on individual’s investment decision making in Securities is not supported. This is true as both males and females are aware about market trends and movements. Moreover, both male and female investment decision making is based on market trends and movements. Variation in weather Market Movements Adversely Affect Investor Investment with Gender The table shows the descriptive statistics of the respondents based on investor’s fear of loss because of adverse market trends and movements with Gender towards investment in stock market.

Table.No.4. Descriptive statistics of Personalization of Loss and Gender

Gender * do you think market movements adversely affect your investment

S,No	Gender	Yes	No	total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
1	Male count %within gender	262 92.9%	20 7.1%	282 100.0%	1.114^a	.291
2	Female count %within gender	94 95.9%	4 4.1%	98 100.0%	1.114^a	.291
3	Total count %within gender	3526 93.7%	24 6.3%	380 100.0%

The results shows that Chi square value is 1.114 and Sig. value =.291 which is more than α =.05, therefore it may be concluded that there do not exist a significant difference between male and female in term of fear of loss in adverse situation or market trends and movement in term of dimension of investors behavior. Based on these finding, H04 that state that Demographic factors have significant impact on individual’s investment decision making in Securities is not supported. This is true as both male and female have fear to adverse outcome. Variation in investor how much reaction towards trends and movement with Gender

The table shows the descriptive statistics of the respondents based on investors investor how much reaction towards market trends and movement with Gender as investors investment in stock marke.

Table.No.5.Descriptive statistics of how much reaction towards trends and movement with Gender

Gender * if yes, how much

			if yes, how much					Total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided
Gender			1 to 10%	11 to 20%	21 to 30%	31 to 40 %	above 41%	Total	Chi-square value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sided
	male	Count	39	132	71	18	22	282	12.752	.013
	male	%within gender	13.8%	46.8%	25.2%	6.4%	7.8%	100.0%
	female	Count	2	45	33	10	8	98
	female	%within gender	2.0%	45.9%	33.7%	10.2%	8.2%	100.0%
Total		Count	41	177	104	28	30	380
Total		%within gender	10.8%	46.6%	27.4%	7.4%	7.9%	100.0%

*Indicate significance level

The results shows that chi-square value is 12.752and Sig. value =.013* which is less than α =.05, therefore it may be concluded that there exist a significant difference between male and female in term of fear of loss in adverse situation or market trends and movement in term of dimension of investors behavior. Based on theses finding, H05 that state that Demographic factors have significant impact on individual’s investment decision making in Securities is supported. Therefore, males are less influenced in adverse situation as compared to that of female as they are responsible for taking financial decision as they manage the risk exposure better.

CONCLUSION AND FINDINGS:

From the data it is observed that majority of the investor investing in stock market are male and are unmarried.

There exists a significant difference among the gender of retail investors on the dimension on the investment horizon.

This reflects that within gender female have more fear of loss as compared to that of male.

REFERENCES:

1. Wang, P., Wang, P., and Liu, A. (2005). Stock return volatility and trading volume: Evidence from the Chinese Stock Market. Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 3(1), 39-54.

2. Daniel, K., Hirshleifer, D., and Teoh, S. H. (2002). Investor psychology in capital markets: Evidence and policy implications. Journal of monetary economics, 49(1), 139-209.

3. Hibbert, A. M., Daigler, R. T., and Dupoyet, B. (2008). A behavioral explanation for the negative asymmetric return–volatility relation. Journal of Banking and Finance, 32(10), 2254-2266.

4. Dhar, R., and Zhu, N. (2006). Up close and personal: Investor sophistication and the disposition effect. Management Science, 52(5), 726-740.

5. Nagy, Robert A., and Robert W. Obenberger. "Factors influencing individual investor behavior." Financial Analysts Journal (1994): 63-68.

6. Shaikh, A. R. H., and Kalkundrikar, A. B. (2011). Impact of demographic factors on retail investors’ investment decisions-an exploratory study. Indian Journal of Finance, 5(9), 35-44.

Received on 08.07.2017 Modified on 06.08.2017

Asian J. Management; 2017; 8(4):1322-1326.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2017.00200.1