A revisit to the portfolio pumping among mutual funds : Evidence from the Korean equity fund market
Jee-Hyun Kim
Yunsung Eom
This paper examines whether portfolio pumping exists in the Korean mutual fund market. Using the data set covering the 17 years of period from 2001 to June 2017, we investigate the pumping intensity according to the fund size and performance as well. Additionally, we look at other dimension of the portfolio pumping phenomena by analyzing return reversal of individual stocks at the end of year. Some of our major findings are as follows. First, we find higher return of funds at the year-end and return reversal at the beginning of a year among Korean equity funds. This result confirms previous research findings of the existence of portfolio pumping in the Korean equity fund market. Second, return reversal occurs not only in active but also in other types of funds including passive index funds. Funds, even not evaluated by the Zero-In, a mutual fund performance evaluation company, show return reversal at the beginning of a year, suggesting potential portfolio pumping. Third, equity funds with higher fund performance exhibit higher portfolio pumping. Lastly, when analyzing return reversal at the individual stocks level, large-size stocks in 2002-2017 sub-period exhibit return reversals, which were not observed in small-size stocks and in earlier sub-period.