Do mutual fund managers exploit the Ramadan anomaly? Evidence from Turkey

Recent literature shows that the holy month of Ramadan exerts a positive influence on investor sentiment in predominantly Muslim countries. This anomaly has been found to be particularly pronounced in Turkey. We therefore examine whether mutual fund managers investing in Turkish stocks are able to benefit from the Ramadan effect. We find that risk-adjusted performance of domestic institutional funds, hybrid funds and foreign Turkish equity funds is substantially higher during Ramadan compared to the rest of the year. By contrast, domestic index funds fail to deliver higher abnormal returns as they are adversely affected by increased money inflows during Ramadan.

► We examine mutual fund managers' timing ability during Ramadan in Turkey. ► Changes in asset allocation mirror the funds' timing attempts during Ramadan. ► Risk-adjusted returns are significantly higher for most of the fund groups. ► Institutional funds, hybrid funds and foreign Turkish equity funds perform best. ► Domestic index funds are adversely affected by increased money inflows.