Investor sentiment based on search engine data for predicting stock returns in Indonesia industrial sector

Abstract

This study aims to investigate investor sentiment and its effect on the industrial sector in Indonesia. In the study, investor sentiment was extracted from data obtained from search engines. Then the data were used to see how the sentiment affected the stock return in each listed industrial company. Fifteen industrial sector companies listed on the stock exchange were selected; each was analyzed for their search volume and the effect on stock returns using panel data regression from March 2020 to April 2022. The result shows that investor sentiment affects the level of stock returns in the industrial sector in Indonesia. This result indicates that with the increase in search volume on search engines, which reflects positive sentiment, there will be an increase in stock trading transactions and vice versa. This study's findings will help investors make investment decisions, especially in the industrial sector.