Positive Correlation between Systematic and Idiosyncratic Volatilities in Korean Stock Return

Abstract

Bartram, Brown, and Stulz (2016) report a strong positive correlation between systematic and idiosyncratic stock return volatilities and suggest heterogeneous firm-level responses to market wide shock may be an underlying driver. We test the hypothesis using Korean stock market data by including additional factors that reflect the macroeconomic conditions to the single factor model used in Bartram, Brown, and Stulz. Even though the correlation decreases by about 25% from 0.85 to 0.64 with additional factors, a substantial positive correlation still remains. In addition, we cannot find evidence that a high correlation industry experiences more volatile corporate sector dynamics in terms of changes in firm ranking and market share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Seoul Journal of Business is the property of Seoul National University, College of Business Administration and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)