We investigate the timing of open market share repurchases and the resultan
t impact on firm liquidity. Using the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong's unique
disclosure environment, we identify the exact implementation dates for more
than five thousand equity buybacks. We find that managers exhibit substant
ial timing ability. Consistent with the information-asymmetry hypothesis, b
id-ask spreads widen and depths narrow during repurchase periods. We decomp
ose bid-ask spreads and show that adverse selection costs increase substant
ially as market participants respond to the presence of informed managerial
trading. Our findings provide additional insight into how markets process
information and have significant implications for corporate payout and disc
losure policies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.