Extreme Returns in Emerging Stock Markets: Evidence of a Max Effect in South Korea

35 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2013 Last revised: 21 Feb 2014

See all articles by Gilbert Nartea

Gilbert Nartea

University of Canterbury - College of Business and Law

Ji (George) Wu

Massey University - School of Economics and Finance

Hongtao Liu

Inland Revenue Department

Date Written: January 8, 2014

Abstract

We investigate the significance of extreme positive returns (MAX) in the cross- sectional pricing of stocks in South Korea. Our results provide important out of sample evidence of a strong negative MAX effect similar to that documented by Bali et al., (2011) in the U.S. stock market. For equal-weighted portfolios, the difference between returns on the portfolios with the highest and lowest maximum daily returns is -1.87% per month. The corresponding difference in alpha is -1.41% per month. The results are robust to controls for size, value, skewness, momentum, short-term reversal, and idiosyncratic volatility. We also sort the portfolios by the average of the five highest daily returns within the month and report return and alpha spreads of -2.21% and -2.01% per month, respectively. However, unlike in Bali et al., (2011) the MAX effect cannot reverse the idiosyncratic volatility effect in the South Korean stock market. Our results imply investor preference for high MAX stocks, consistent with cumulative prospect theory (CPT) where investors sub-optimally overweight the possibility that extreme returns will persist. The MAX effect is also consistent with the optimal expectations framework where investors derive utility from overestimating the probabilities of events in which their investments pay off well.

Keywords: Extreme returns, Asset pricing, Idiosyncratic volatility, South Korea

JEL Classification: G11, G12

Suggested Citation

Nartea, Gilbert and Wu, Ji (George) and Liu, Hongtao, Extreme Returns in Emerging Stock Markets: Evidence of a Max Effect in South Korea (January 8, 2014). Applied Financial Economics, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2311077 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2311077

Gilbert Nartea

University of Canterbury - College of Business and Law ( email )

Christchurch, 8140
New Zealand

Ji (George) Wu (Contact Author)

Massey University - School of Economics and Finance ( email )

Private Bag 102904
North Shore
Auckland, Auckland 0745
New Zealand
+6292127089 (Phone)

Hongtao Liu

Inland Revenue Department ( email )

Kathmandu, Lazimpat
Kathmandu
Nepal

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