Mutual Fund Performance: An Analysis of Monthly Returns of an Emerging Market

Mutual funds dwell in a small market in Bangladesh. Around 25 mutual funds listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) trade at an average of 2.7 times of their net asset value (NAV). This paper focused on evaluating the performance of more than 15 growth oriented mutual funds of DSE on the basis of monthly returns compared to benchmark returns. Risk adjusted performance measures suggested by Jenson, Treynor, Sharpe and statistical models are employed. It is found that, most of the mutual funds have performed better according to Jenson and Treynor measures but not up to the benchmark on the basis of Sharpe ratio. However, very few mutual funds are well diversified and have reduced its unique risk. The growth oriented funds have not performed better in terms of total risk and the funds are not offering advantages of diversification and professionalism to the investors. So, mutual funds cannot perform always better with their expertise and cannot beat the market. Keywords: Mutual Fund, Dhaka Stock Exchange, Diversification, Net Asset Value, Selectivity, Volatility, Market Timing