IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v13y2020i9p219-d416594.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Investment Performance of Ethical Equity Funds in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Fadillah Mansor

    (Department of Shariah and Management, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia)

  • M. Ishaq Bhatti

    (Department of Economics, Finance and Marketing, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia)

  • Shafiqur Rahman

    (Rubicon Global Advisors, Portland, OR 97223, USA)

  • Hung Quang Do

    (Department of Economics, Finance and Marketing, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia)

Abstract

This paper investigates the investment performance of Malaysian Islamic equity funds and a matching sample of conventional equity funds relative to their market benchmark. An integrated model is used to simultaneously capture the market timing and selectivity skills of fund managers. Our findings indicate that the Islamic funds do not match the performance of the conventional funds in terms of selectivity skill. However, Islamic funds perform no worse than their conventional counterparts in market timing, although neither outperform the market. These findings have crucial implications not only for fund managers’ investment decisions, but also for sensitive shariah-compliant investors and risk-seeking investors of Islamic equity funds in their investment portfolio preference.

Suggested Citation

  • Fadillah Mansor & M. Ishaq Bhatti & Shafiqur Rahman & Hung Quang Do, 2020. "The Investment Performance of Ethical Equity Funds in Malaysia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-14, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:13:y:2020:i:9:p:219-:d:416594
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/13/9/219/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/13/9/219/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Azmi, Wajahat & Mohamad, Shamsher & Shah, Mohamed Eskandar, 2020. "Ethical investments and financial performance: An international evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Michael C. Jensen, 1968. "The Performance Of Mutual Funds In The Period 1945–1964," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 389-416, May.
    3. Jeffrey A Busse & Lin Tong & Qing Tong & Zhe Zhang, 2019. "Trading Regularity and Fund Performance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 374-422.
    4. Henriksson, Roy D & Merton, Robert C, 1981. "On Market Timing and Investment Performance. II. Statistical Procedures for Evaluating Forecasting Skills," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 513-533, October.
    5. Jensen, Michael C, 1969. "Risk, The Pricing of Capital Assets, and the Evaluation of Investment Portfolios," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(2), pages 167-247, April.
    6. Stephanos Papadamou & Costas Siriopoulos, 2004. "American equity mutual funds in European markets: Hot hands phenomenon and style analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(2), pages 85-97.
    7. Brown, Stephen J & Goetzmann, William N, 1995. "Performance Persistence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 679-698, June.
    8. Kon, Stanley J, 1983. "The Market-Timing Performance of Mutual Fund Managers," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(3), pages 323-347, July.
    9. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    10. Boo, Yee Ling & Ee, Mong Shan & Li, Bob & Rashid, Mamunur, 2017. "Islamic or conventional mutual funds: Who has the upper hand? Evidence from Malaysia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 183-192.
    11. Grinblatt, Mark & Titman, Sheridan D, 1989. "Mutual Fund Performance: An Analysis of Quarterly Portfolio Holdings," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(3), pages 393-416, July.
    12. Lee, Cheng Few & Rahman, Shafiqur, 1990. "Market Timing, Selectivity, and Mutual Fund Performance: An Empirical Investigation," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(2), pages 261-278, April.
    13. Hallahan, Terrence A. & Faff, Robert W., 1999. "An examination of Australian equity trusts for selectivity and market timing performance," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 9(3-4), pages 387-402, November.
    14. Mansor, F. & Bhatti, M.I. & Ariff, M., 2015. "New evidence on the impact of fees on mutual fund performance of two types of funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 102-115.
    15. Admati, Anat R & Ross, Stephen A, 1985. "Measuring Investment Performance in a Rational Expectations Equilibrium Model," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 1-26, January.
    16. Raza, Muhammad Wajid & Ashraf, Dawood, 2019. "Does the application of smart beta strategies enhance portfolio performance? The case of Islamic equity investments," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 46-61.
    17. Dybvig, Philip H & Ross, Stephen A, 1985. "Differential Information and Performance Measurement Using a Security Market Line," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(2), pages 383-399, June.
    18. Coggin, T Daniel & Fabozzi, Frank J & Rahman, Shafiqur, 1993. "The Investment Performance of U.S. Equity Pension Fund Managers: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(3), pages 1039-1055, July.
    19. Chou, De-Wai & Huang, Pei-Ching & Lai, Christine W., 2016. "New mutual fund managers: Why do they alter portfolios?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2167-2175.
    20. Bauer, Rob & Koedijk, Kees & Otten, Roger, 2005. "International evidence on ethical mutual fund performance and investment style," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1751-1767, July.
    21. Sawicki, Julia & Ong, Fred, 2000. "Evaluating managed fund performance using conditional measures: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 8(3-4), pages 505-528, July.
    22. Abd. Ghafar Ismail and Mohd. Saharudin Shakrani, 2003. "The Conditional Capm And Cross-Sectional Evidence Of Return And Beta For Islamic Unit Trusts In Malaysia," IIUM Journal of Economics and Management, IIUM Journal of Economis and Management, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, June.
    23. Henriksson, Roy D, 1984. "Market Timing and Mutual Fund Performance: An Empirical Investigation," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 73-96, January.
    24. Huamao Wang & Jun Yang & Yumei Yao, 2019. "Dynamics and performance of decentralized portfolios with size-induced fund flows," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 885-898, June.
    25. Grinblatt, Mark & Titman, Sheridan, 1994. "A Study of Monthly Mutual Fund Returns and Performance Evaluation Techniques," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(3), pages 419-444, September.
    26. Cici, Gjergji & Dahm, Laura K. & Kempf, Alexander, 2018. "Trading efficiency of fund families: Impact on fund performance and investment behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-14.
    27. Andreas G.F. Hoepner & Hussain G. Rammal & Michael Rezec, 2011. "Islamic mutual funds’ financial performance and international investment style: evidence from 20 countries," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(9-10), pages 829-850, November.
    28. David Blake & Allan Timmermann, 1998. "Mutual Fund Performance: Evidence from the UK," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 2(1), pages 57-77.
    29. Elton, Edwin J, et al, 1993. "Efficiency with Costly Information: A Reinterpretation of Evidence from Managed Portfolios," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 1-22.
    30. Dybvig, Philip H & Ross, Stephen A, 1985. "The Analytics of Performance Measurement Using a Security Market Line," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(2), pages 401-416, June.
    31. Naseem Al Rahahleh & M. Ishaq Bhatti & Faridah Najuna Misman, 2019. "Developments in Risk Management in Islamic Finance: A Review," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, February.
    32. Stephanos Papadamou & Nikolaos A. Kyriazis & Lydia Mermigka, 2017. "Japanese Mutual Funds before and after the Crisis Outburst: A Style- and Performance-Analysis," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-20, March.
    33. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    34. Parida, Sitikantha & Teo, Terence, 2018. "The impact of more frequent portfolio disclosure on mutual fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 427-445.
    35. Bertin, William J. & Prather, Laurie, 2009. "Management structure and the performance of funds of mutual funds," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 1364-1369, December.
    36. Chang, Eric C & Lewellen, Wilbur G, 1984. "Market Timing and Mutual Fund Investment Performance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 57-72, January.
    37. Suren Basov & M. Ishaq Bhatti, 2016. "Islamic Finance in the Light of Modern Economic Theory," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-28662-8.
    38. Malkiel, Burton G, 1995. "Returns from Investing in Equity Mutual Funds 1971 to 1991," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 549-572, June.
    39. Grant, Dwight, 1978. "Market Timing and Portfolio Management," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1119-1131, September.
    40. Fama, Eugene F, 1972. "Components of Investment Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 551-567, June.
    41. Soo-Wah Low, 2012. "Market Timing and Selectivity Performance: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Malaysian Unit Trust Funds," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2012(2), pages 205-219.
    42. Ferson, Wayne E & Schadt, Rudi W, 1996. "Measuring Fund Strategy and Performance in Changing Economic Conditions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(2), pages 425-461, June.
    43. Galagedera, Don U.A., 2019. "Modelling social responsibility in mutual fund performance appraisal: A two-stage data envelopment analysis model with non-discretionary first stage output," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(1), pages 376-389.
    44. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    45. Shafiqur Rahman & Cheng-Few Lee & Yaqing Xiao, 2017. "The investment performance, attributes, and investment behavior of ethical equity mutual funds in the US: an empirical investigation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 91-116, July.
    46. Treynor, Jack L & Black, Fischer, 1973. "How to Use Security Analysis to Improve Portfolio Selection," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(1), pages 66-86, January.
    47. Hammami, Yacine & Oueslati, Abdelmonem, 2017. "Measuring skill in the Islamic mutual fund industry: Evidence from GCC countries," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 15-31.
    48. Merton, Robert C, 1981. "On Market Timing and Investment Performance. I. An Equilibrium Theory of Value for Market Forecasts," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 363-406, July.
    49. Cumby, Robert E & Glen, Jack D, 1990. "Evaluating the Performance of International Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 497-521, June.
    50. Saad Azmat & A. S. M. Sohel Azad & M. Ishaq Bhatti & Hamza Ghaffar, 2020. "Islamic Banking, Costly Religiosity, And Competition," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 263-303, May.
    51. Fulkerson, Jon A. & Riley, Timothy B., 2019. "Portfolio concentration and mutual fund performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-16.
    52. Joshua M. Pollet & Mungo Wilson, 2008. "How Does Size Affect Mutual Fund Behavior?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2941-2969, December.
    53. Evangelos Benos & Marek Jochec, 2011. "Short term persistence in mutual fund market timing and stock selection abilities," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 221-246, May.
    54. Hayat, Raphie & Kraeussl, Roman, 2011. "Risk and return characteristics of Islamic equity funds," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 189-203, June.
    55. Jagannathan, Ravi & Korajczyk, Robert A, 1986. "Assessing the Market Timing Performance of Managed Portfolios," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(2), pages 217-235, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Delle Foglie & Gianni Pola, 2021. "Make the Best from Comparing Conventional and Islamic Asset Classes: A Design of an All-Seasons Combined Portfolio," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Ana María Gómez-Bezares & Fernando Gómez-Bezares, 2020. "Catholic Social Thought and Sustainability. Ethical and Economic Alignment," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shafiqur Rahman & Cheng-Few Lee & Yaqing Xiao, 2017. "The investment performance, attributes, and investment behavior of ethical equity mutual funds in the US: an empirical investigation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 91-116, July.
    2. Anjum, Sohail & Qayyum, Unbreen & Qureshi, Madeeha Gohar, 2019. "Aggregate performance evaluation of US Equity Mutual Funds - Explaining the performance of Growth Funds vs. Value Funds," MPRA Paper 100043, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. David R. Gallagher, 2001. "Attribution of investment performance: an analysis of Australian pooled superannuation funds," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 41(1‐2), pages 41-62, July.
    4. William Goetzmann & Jonathan Ingersoll & Zoran Ivkovich, 1998. "Monthly Measurement of Daily Timers," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm88, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Oct 2000.
    5. Romacho, Joao Carlos & Cortez, Maria Ceu, 2006. "Timing and selectivity in Portuguese mutual fund performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 348-368, September.
    6. Lehmann, Bruce & Timmermann, Allan, 2007. "Performance measurement and evaluation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 24505, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Simon Stevenson, 2004. "A performance evaluation of portfolio managers: tests of micro and macro forecasting," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(5), pages 391-411.
    8. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    9. Christensen, Michael, 2005. "Danish Mutual Fund Performance - Selectivity, Market Timing and Persistence," Finance Research Group Working Papers F-2005-01, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Business Studies.
    10. Kathryn A. Holmes & Robert W. Faff, 2004. "Stability, Asymmetry and Seasonality of Fund Performance: An Analysis of Australian Multi‐sector Managed Funds," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3‐4), pages 539-578, April.
    11. Kathryn A. Holmes & Robert W. Faff, 2004. "Stability, Asymmetry and Seasonality of Fund Performance: An Analysis of Australian Multi‐sector Managed Funds," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3‐4), pages 539-578, April.
    12. Pankaj K. Agarwal & H. K. Pradhan, 2018. "Mutual Fund Performance Using Unconditional Multifactor Models: Evidence from India," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 17(2_suppl), pages 157-184, August.
    13. Pi‐Hsia Hung & Donald Lien & Yun‐Ju Chien, 2020. "Portfolio concentration and fund manager performance," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 423-451, July.
    14. Basu, Anup K. & Huang-Jones, Jason, 2015. "The performance of diversified emerging market equity funds," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 116-131.
    15. Benson, Karen L. & Faff, Robert W., 2003. "A performance analysis of Australian international equity trusts," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 69-84, February.
    16. Cuthbertson, Keith & Nitzsche, Dirk, 2013. "Performance, stock selection and market timing of the German equity mutual fund industry," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 86-101.
    17. Ferson, Wayne E., 2013. "Investment Performance: A Review and Synthesis," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 969-1010, Elsevier.
    18. Ayadi, Mohamed A. & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2005. "Portfolio performance measurement using APM-free kernel models," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 623-659, March.
    19. Cesari, Riccardo & Panetta, Fabio, 2002. "The performance of Italian equity funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 99-126, January.
    20. Massimiliano Caporin & Grégory M. Jannin & Francesco Lisi & Bertrand B. Maillet, 2014. "A Survey On The Four Families Of Performance Measures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 917-942, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:13:y:2020:i:9:p:219-:d:416594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.