Market liquidity ensures the marketability of security and is an indispensable feature of stock markets. Previous studies have emphasized the role of stock market liquidity in empirical finance. However, they have inadequately explored its multidimensional nature. This study eliminates the ambiguities related to market liquidity by precisely measuring it by using popular and proven liquidity measures. As such, the present study aims to evaluate market liquidity in terms of depth, breadth, tightness, and immediacy in the Indian equity market and also identifies crucial interdependencies between liquidity dimensions. The study selects 500 stocks constituting the NIFTY 500 index of the National Stock Exchange, India, as of 26th May 2019. The data on trading volume, bid price, ask price, the number of shares outstanding, closing share prices were retrieved for the period from 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2019. The study employs Share Turnover, Amihud Illiquidity Ratio, Relative Quoted Spreads, and Coefficient of Elasticity of Trading for liquidity measurement. The Vector Auto-Regressive (VAR) model is used to establish the simultaneous relationships between liquidity dimensions. The analysis is conducted at the aggregate market level as well as across turnover based stock groups divided based on their rankings in terms of stock specific share turnover. The empirical results evidenced the presence of consistent depth, strong breadth, and immediacy but lower tightness in the Indian equity market. The market depth and tightness appear to be relevant in determining dimensional interdependencies. Also, less frequently traded stocks exhibit higher illiquidity in the wake of lower tightness. The findings of this study will assist the investors to wisely understand the multifaceted nature of market liquidity and base their trading decisions accordingly. Moreover, the regulators of the stock exchange can devise liquidity enhancing policies based on the directional movements among liquidity dimensions.

The purpose of this study is to identify the key aspects that have been studied in the area of stock market liquidity, accumulate their important findings, and also provide a quantitative categorization of reviewed literature that will facilitate in conducting further research. The study analyzes relevant research papers published after the global financial crisis of 2008 and finds that measurement of liquidity, factors influencing liquidity, the relationship between market liquidity and expected return, and market liquidity risk and its relationship with expected returns have been explored in the context of the stock market liquidity. Among these, the factors influencing liquidity have been prominently researched in the reviewed studies. The study concludes that the identified areas can be potentially researched concerning the emerging markets by considering the multidimensional quality of market liquidity. Also, the inter-linkages between the liquidity of emerging markets with that of the global stock markets can be further evaluated.

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