According to research conducted by SMU Associate Professor of Finance Fu Fangjian and SMU Assistant Professor of Finance Huang Sheng, the stock market started to become more efficient 15 years ago, leaving fewer shares mispriced. Among the reasons for this are the increasing influence of big, sophisticated institutional investors, more information disclosure by companies because of increased regulation, improved market liquidity due to a decline in trading costs, and an explosion in algorithmic trading. The net result according to the study, is that on average companies have stopped experiencing any boost in the performance of their shares following the announcement of a buyback programme. The study was based on data gathered up until 2012, but Assoc Prof Fu says he has updated the study to include data through the end of 2016 and reached the same conclusion.