Abstract
Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the herding behavior in the French stock market and its effect on the idiosyncratic conditional volatility at a sectoral level.
Design/methodology/approach - This sample covers all the listed companies in the French stock market, classified by sector, over four major crisis periods. The author modifies the cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD) model to include trading volume and investors sentiment as herding triggers. Furthermore, the author uses a modified GARCH model to investigate the effect of herding on conditional volatility.
Findings - Herding is present in the French market during crises, and it is present in only some sectors during the entire period. The main trigger for investors to embark into a collective herding movement differs from one sector to another. Furthermore, herding behavior has an inhibiting effect on market conditional volatility.
Originality/value - The author modifies the CSAD model to investigate the presence of herding in the French stock market at a sectoral level during turmoil periods. Furthermore, the particularly designed GARCH model provides new insights on the effect of herding and volume turnover on the conditional volatility.