Does it pay to be a faithful investor? A risk-based approach performance analysis of Islamic funds vs UCITS schemes

PurposeThis paper empirically investigates the performance of Islamic funds, which have been praised for weathering the 2008 financial storm relatively well and compares it to a European product designed to protect the most vulnerable of investors, UCITS funds.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds on 128 time-series regressions using various factor models to analyse the risk-return relationship of 242 Islamic and UCITS funds relative to a market benchmark, over a 10-year period starting January 2006, to capture severe bear and bull market conditions.FindingsIslamic funds do not face a competitive disadvantage arising from their strict compliance with Shariah principles, and their performance and investment style is relatively similar to UCITS schemes.Practical implicationsIslamic funds represent a low risk investment due to their very mild betas. Therefore, when forming part of a diversified portfolio, they can act as a hedging tool against adverse market movements.Social implicationsMuslim investors are not punished relative to conventional retail investors when following their own beliefs. Other investors can consider Islamic funds in their portfolio allocation, especially those who seek socially and ethically responsible investments.Originality/valueThis paper fills a lacuna in the existing literature, because the sample is made up of Islamic funds established worldwide and includes not only equity, but also fixed income and mixed allocation funds.

Convergence and Diversity in the Hedge Fund and Private Equity Industry

This chapter identifies differences in hedge fund and private equity strategies in terms of investments, strategies, and fundamental terms. These underlying structural differences have implications for the type of investor attracted to each investment style. Previously, investment decisions could be made on a set of trade-offs, but increased competition in the hedge fund industry is now the main factor driving the type of fund operating and competing in investment markets. This chapter describes the terms and conditions which address fund formation and operation, fees and expenses, profit sharing and distributions, as well as corporate governance. No matter how appealing the prospects of hedge fund and private equity convergence, there are significant concerns: can both types of fund combine different investment styles without affecting the level of returns?; can the transition toward financial convergence be blocked if hedge fund investors object to valuations based on subjective, and not actual, market trading?;can ‘side pockets’ in a hedge fund be isolated from the costs of accounting for the two streams of capital?

INVESTMENT STYLES OF REIT PROPERTY PORTFOLIOS

Investment style, comprising generic-style and specific-style, is the real estate investment management approach adopted by REIT management in guiding the construction of their portfolios. These portfolios would have distinctive return and risk performance reflecting the stated risk and return underlying the investment vision. Using quantitative and qualitative approaches, this study identified the investment style of each M-REIT listed on Bursa Malaysia. Using the generic-style criteria and analysis, M-REITs are found to have pursued passive and value strategies aided by a top-down approach to their property portfolio management. Whilst results of the specific style analysis show that core portfolios have produced a lower risk-return ratio compared to value-added and opportunistic portfolios. These findings will benefit investors by guiding their investment decision making in constructing their investment portfolios and also in deciding ways to achieve diversification.

Ratings-Driven Demand and Systematic Price Fluctuations

We show that mutual fund ratings generate correlated demand that creates systematic price fluctuations. Mutual fund investors chase fund performance via Morningstar ratings. Until June 2002, funds pursuing the same investment style had highly correlated ratings. Therefore, rating-chasing investors directed capital into winning styles, generating style-level price pressures, which reverted over time. In June 2002, Morningstar reformed its methodology of equalizing ratings across styles. Style-level correlated demand via mutual funds immediately became muted, significantly altering the time-series and cross-sectional variation in style returns.

MANAGERIAL ABILITIES AND FACTOR INVESTMENT STYLE PERFORMANCES OF MALAYSIAN MUTUAL FUND MANAGERS

Background and Purpose: Studies focusing on mutual fund managerial abilities and investment style strategies are still scarce in the literature. Thus, this study aims to provide new evidence and insights into the managerial abilities and investment style performances of Malaysian fund managers. Methodology: A total of 444 Malaysian equity mutual funds (EMFs) were evaluated using Carhart’s model incorporated with Treynor-Mazuy (T-M) and Henriksson-Merton (H-M) market timing models for the study period, from January 1995 to December 2017. Findings: Fund managers displayed superior stock selection skills with 32 percent and 43 percent of funds for T-M and H-M respectively, with perverse market timing ability which accounted for 39 percent and 42 percent of funds for T-M and H-M respectively. Perverse timing ability had reduced the superior stock-picking skills of fund managers. This suggests that the EMFs performance could further improve if respective fund managers perform better in market timing ability. The finding also indicates that size effect (SMB) and value effect (HML) play significant roles in investment style strategies, while results of momentum factor (WML) propose that Malaysian fund managers have followed the contrarian strategy. Contributions: This study contributes in several ways especially in the literature of portfolio management as the evidence is obtained from the largest mutual funds sample size and the longest study period. Moreover, this study also used the highest frequency data to study the effects of market timing which were overlooked in previous studies. Keywords: Adjusted carhart, Malaysian market, market timing, mutual fund, stock selection. Cite as: Ling, P-S., & Abdul-Rahim, R. (2021). Managerial abilities and factor investment style performances of Malaysian mutual funds. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 118-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp118-135

The application of probability theory in speculative game of stock market

The main fact of China's stock market so far is that it is a policy market, a capital driven market and a speculative market. Value investment is scarce. This paper tries to use the method of probability theory to get rid of the fog of the market, help the majority of retail investors wake up in cognition, realize that the strong are always strong, and form their own investment style, so as to realize the stable profit from the market.