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CHAPTER 7: PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS 
 
This  chapter  deals  with  the  risks  and  returns  on  investments  in  securities.  
Portfolio Management activities include: 
 Selection of securities for investment; 
 Construction of possible portfolios; 
 Deciding  the  weights  / proportions  of  different  securities  in  the 
portfolio  and  arriving  at  an  Optimal  Portfolio  for  the  concerned 
investor. 
The main  objective  of  a rational  investor  is  to  identify  the  Efficient  Portfolios 
out of the different Feasible Portfolios and to zero in on the Optimal Portfolio 
suiting  his  risk  appetite. An  Efficient  Portfolio  has  the  highest  return 
among  all  Feasible  Portfolios  having  identical  Risk  and  has  the 
lowest Risk among all Feasible Portfolios having identical Return.  
The other Objectives of Portfolio management are: 
a. Security/Safety of Principal; 
b. Stability of Income; 
c. Capital Appreciation; 
d. Marketability & Liquidity; 
e. Minimisation of risk; 
f. Diversification; 
g. Suitable tax considerations. 
All  investments  are  to  be  looked  in  the  above  areas  before  taking  a  call  on 
investment or continuing with the amount invested.   
Investment  management  is  a  complex  task,  and requires special  knowledge 
and skills to deal with the identification and form of Portfolio. 
Phases of portfolio Management:  The various phases are:  
a. Security  Analysis:  Securities  are  analysed  under  Fundamental 
Analysis (EPS  of  the  Co.,  Dividend  Payout  ratio,  Competition  faced  by 
the company, market share etc.) & Technical Analysis (Trends in share 
price  movements  etc.)  As  per  Efficient Market  Hypothesis, share  price 
movements  are  random  and  not systematic.  Consequently,  neither 
fundamental  analysis  nor  technical  analysis  is  of  value or of  use in 
generating trading gains on a sustained basis.
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b. Portfolio  analysis: After  identifying  the  securities  in  which 
investments  are  to  be  made,  next  comes  the  formation  of  Portfolio.  
Portfolio  is  a  combination  of  securities  with  different  proportions  of 
investments.    Different  feasible  portfolios  are  constructed  and  the 
return  and  risk  of  each  portfolio  is  ascertained.    As  per  the risk 
appetite  of  the  investor, and  his  preferences, appropriate  portfolio  is 
identified for investment. 
c. Portfolio  Revision:   Economy  and  financial  markets  are  dynamic  in 
nature,  changes  take  place  in  these  variables almost  on a  daily  basis 
and securities which were once attractive may cease to be so and vice 
versa with  the  passage  of  time.  Having  made  investments  as  per  the 
risk  appetite  of  investors,  the  portfolio  is  watched  continuously  and 
suitable changes to it are made as per changing market conditions and 
risk appetite of the investor. 
d. Portfolio  Evaluation: Performance  of  the  portfolio  over  a  selected 
period  of  time  in  terms  of  return  and  risk is  ascertained.    It  involves 
quantitative  measurement  of  actual return  realized  and  the  risk  borne 
by  the  portfolio  over  the  period  of  investment.  The  objective of 
constructing  a  portfolio  and  revising  it  periodically  is  to  maintain  its 
optimal  risk  return characteristics.  Various  types  of measures  of 
performance  evaluation  have  been developed  for  use  by  investors  and 
portfolio managers. 
 
Risk Analysis:  The risk in an investment is the variation in its returns. This 
variation  in  returns  is caused  by  a  number  of  factors.  The factors  which 
produce variations in the returns from an investment are called the elements 
of risk which can be depicted by the following figure: 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
Total risk = Systematic risk + Unsystematic risk 
Elements of Risk 
Systematic Risk Unsystematic Risk 
Interest Risk Market Risk 
Purchasing Power Risk Business Risk Financial Risk Social Risk Default Risk
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Systematic  risk refers  to  the  variability  of  return  on  stocks  or  portfolio 
associated with changes in return on the market as a whole. Systematic Risk 
arises  due  to external  factors  that  are  macro  in  nature  and  usually  out  of 
control  of  the  company.   It  arises  due  to  risk  factors  that  affect  the  overall 
market  such  as changes  in  the  nations‟  economy,  tax  reform  by  the 
Government  or  a  change  in  the  world  energy situation.  These  are  risks  that 
affect  securities  overall  and,  consequently,  cannot  be  diversified away.  This 
is  the  risk  which  is  common  to  an  entire  class  of  assets  or  liabilities.  The 
value of investments may decline over a given time period simply because of 
economic  changes  or  other events  that  impact  large  portions  of  the  market. 
Asset  diversification  can  protect against  systematic  risk  because  different 
portions  of  the  market  tend  to  underperform  at  different times.  This  is  also 
called market risk. 
Systematic risk is further classified into: 
a. Interest  Rate  Risk: The  change  in  the  interest  rate  has  a  bearing  on 
the  welfare  of  the investors.  As  the  interest  rate  goes  up,  the  market 
price  of  existing fixed  income securities  falls  and  vice  versa.  This is 
because  the  buyer  of  a  fixed  income security  would  not  buy  it  at  its 
par  value  or  face  value  if  its  fixed  interest  rate  is  lower than  the 
prevailing interest rate on a similar security. 
b. Social or Regulatory Risk: The social or regulatory risk arises, where 
an  otherwise profitable  investment  is  impaired  as  a  result  of  adverse 
legislation,  harsh  regulatory climate,  or  in  extreme  instance 
nationalization by a socialistic government.  Eg. Latest Land acquisition 
Act. 
c. Market  risk: At  times prices  of  securities,  equity  shares  in  particular, 
tend  to  fluctuate.  Major  cause  appears  to  be  the  changing  psychology 
of  the  investors. The  irrationality  in  the  security  markets  may  cause 
losses  unrelated  to  the  basic  risks. These  losses  are  the  result  of 
changes  in  the  general  tenor  of  the  market  and  are  called market 
risks. 
d. Purchasing  Power  Risk:  Inflation  or  rise  in  prices  lead  to  rise  in 
costs  of  production,  lower margins,  wage  rises  and  profit  squeezing 
etc. The return expected by investors will change due to change in real 
value of returns. 
Unsystematic  risk refers  to  risk  unique  to  a  particular  company  or 
industry.  This  arises due  to  factors  within  the  company  and  usually  micro  in
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nature  and  is  controllable  to  a  great  extent. This  is  the  risk  of  price  change 
due  to  the  unique  circumstances  of  a  specific  security  as  opposed  to  the 
overall  market.  This  risk  can  be  virtually  eliminated  from  a  portfolio  through 
diversification. 
Unsystematic risk is further classified into: 
a. Business  Risk: As  a  holder  of  corporate  securities  (equity  shares  or 
debentures)  one  is exposed  to  the  risk  of  poor  business  performance. 
This  may  be  caused  by  a  variety  of factors  like heightened 
competition,  emergence  of  new  technologies (SLR  cameras  to  digital 
cameras),  development  of substitute  products,  shifts  in  consumer 
preferences,  inadequate  supply  of  essential inputs,  changes  in 
governmental  policies  and  so  on.  Often  of  course, the  principal  factor 
may be inept and incompetent management. 
b. Default  Risk: Default  risk  refers  to  the  risk arising  from  the  fact  that 
a  borrower  may  not pay  interest  and / or  principal  on  time.  Except  in 
the  case  of  highly  risky  debt  instrument, investors  seem  to  be  more 
concerned  with the  perceived  risk  of  default  rather  than  the actual 
occurrence  of  default.  Even  though  the  actual  default  may  be  highly 
unlikely,  they believe  that  a  change  in  the  perceived  default  risk  of  a 
bond would have an immediate impact on its market price. 
c. Financial  Risk: This  relates  to  the  method  of  financing,  adopted  by 
the company, high leverage leading to larger debt servicing problem or 
short  term  liquidity  problems  due  to bad  debts,  delayed  receivables 
and fall in current assets or rise in current liabilities. 
Diversion  of  Risk:  Each  Security  has  two  types  of  risks.  Viz.  Systematic 
Risk  and  Unsystematic  Risk.  Unsystematic  risk  can  be minimised  by 
increasing the size of the portfolio (say around 25 scrips.)   
The  following  graph  shows  the  relationship between  the  number  of  scrips 
and  the  risk  of  portfolio.    As  the  number  of  scrips  increases,  unsystematic 
risk  reduces  (and  thus  total  risk  as  well)  and  eventually  gets minimised  and 
we will be left with only systematic risk of the portfolio.   
Risk  is  usually  measured  by  calculating  Variance  or  Standard  Deviation  of 
the  returns  of  security  /  portfolio.  Variance  and  standard  deviation indicate 
the extent of variability of possible returns from the expected return. 
Variance (Sd2) =  [ -667558785;-667558774;−-667558785; -667557936;∗-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;(-667558785;-667558774;)] Where,
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Xi =  Possible  returns  on  security i ;  X  =  Expected  Value  of  security  / 
Portfolio;  
P(Xi) = Probability. 
Standard Deviation is the Square Root of Variance. 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
Variance  and  Standard  Deviation  indicate  the  total  risk  associated with 
security, i.e. Systematic risk + Unsystematic risk.   
A  rational  risk-averse  investor  views  the  variance  (or  standard  deviation)  of 
her portfolio‟s return as the proper risk of her portfolio. If the investor holds 
only  one  security (or  very  few  securities),  the  variance  of  that  security‟s 
return becomes the variance of the portfolio‟s return. Hence, the variance of 
the security‟s return is the security‟s proper measure of risk.   
An  investor  with  diversified  portfolio  measures  the  beta  of  the  security as  a 
proper  measure  of  risk for  the  security since  for  him  unsystematic  risk  is 
minimised because  of  diversification.    An  investor  who  is  evaluating  the 
systematic element  of  risk,  that  is,  extent  of  deviation  of  returns vis  a  vis 
the market, therefore considers beta as a proper measure of risk. 
When risk  is separated into systematic  and  unsystematic  parts,  the  market 
generally  does  not  reward  for  diversifiable  risk (unsystematic  risk) since  the 
investor  himself  is  expected  to diversify  the  risk.  However,  if  the  investor 
does  not  diversify  he  cannot  be considered  to  be  an  efficient  investor.  The 
market,  therefore,  rewards  an  investor  only  for the  non-diversifiable 
(systematic) risk.  Hence,  the  investor  needs  to  know  how  much  non-
diversifiable risk  he  is  taking. Non  diversifiable  risk  is  measured  in  terms of 
beta.
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Further,  an  investor  with  varied  diversified  portfolio  also  considers  variance 
and standard deviation of the security as measure of the risk for the security 
so far it impacts the variance and standard deviation of the portfolio.  He will 
not  be  per  se  interested  in  the  variance  or  standard  deviation  of  each 
security, rather he is interested in their impact on the total portfolio. 
Unsystematic  risk  is  internal  risk  and  is  associated  with  the  company.    This 
can  be minimised by  having  another  security  in  the  portfolio  with  opposite 
correlation  and  this  process  is  known  as  diversification.    A  portfolio  with 
around  25  securities  in  it  will  have minimum unsystematic  risk  due  to 
diversification.  
Measurement  of  Systematic  Risk: Systematic  risk  relates  to  external 
environment  and  is  uncontrollable.    Different  Securities  returns  are  affected 
by  different  degrees  due  to  changes  in  economy  like  inflation,  interest  rate, 
etc.   The  average effect  of  a  change  in  the  economy  can  be  represented  by 
the  change  in  the  stock  market index.  The  systematic  risk  of  a  security  can 
be  measured  by  relating  that  security‟s  variability vis-à-vis  variability  in  the 
stock market index. A higher variability would indicate higher systematic risk 
and vice versa. 
The systematic risk of a security is measured by a statistical measure called 
Beta.  Input data required for the calculation of beta of any security are the 
historical  data  of returns  of  the  individual  security  and  corresponding  return 
of  a  representative  market  return (stock  market  index).  There  are  two 
statistical  methods  i.e. correlation  method  and  the  regression  method, 
which can be used for the calculation of Beta. 
Correlation Method: Formula used for calculation of Beta is: 
-667558089;=  -667558806;-667558768;-667558761;.-667558774;-667558770;
-667558764;-667557936;-667558770;   = -667558765;-667558774;-667558770;-667558764;-667558774;-667558764;-667558770;
-667558790;-667557936;-667558770;  = -667558765;-667558774;-667558770;-667558764;-667558774;
-667558790;-667558770; =  -667558765;-667558767;-667558770;-667558764;-667558767;
-667558790;-667558770;    Where, 
rim = coefficient of correlation between scrip i and the market index m; 
rpm =  coefficient  of  correlation  between portfolio p and  the  market  index  m 
sdi = standard deviation of returns of stock i;  
sdm = standard deviation of returns of market index,  
sd2m = the variance of market returns; and 
sdp = standard deviation of returns of portfolio. 
Regression method: The general form of regression equation is: 
-667558090;=-667558784;− -667558089;-667558785;   Where,
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X = independent variable (market); 
Y = dependent variable (security), and  
-667558090;, -667558089; are constants.  
Alpha indicates  excess  of  return  over  expected  return  and Beta indicates 
return  of  security  vis  a  vis  market  return. Alpha indicates  absolute  figure 
whereas Beta indicates relative figure. 
 
Beta is calculated by the formula: 
-667558089;= -667558769; -667558785;-667558784;−( -667558785;) ( -667558784;)
-667558769; -667558785;-667557936;− ( -667558785;)-667557936;     where, 
n = number of items; 
X = Independent variable (market); 
Y = Dependent variable (security); 
XY = product of dependent and independent variable; 
Alternative Formula: 
-667558089;=  -667558785;-667558784;−-667558769; -667558785;͞ -667558784;͞ 
 -667558785;-667557936;− -667558769; -667558785;͞-667557936;    =     -667558785;-667558784;−( -667558785;) -667558784;͞ 
 -667558785;-667557936;−  ( -667558785;) -667558785;͞ 
X͞   &  Y‾ are  respective  arithmetic  means  and  rest  of Notations have same 
meaning as in above earlier formula. 
To calculate return of individual security, following CAPM formula is used: 
Ra = -667558090;+ -667558089;-667558791;-667558770;   where, 
Ra = Return of individual security, 
Rm = Return on market index or Risk Premium 
-667558148; = Return of the security when market is stationary 
-667558089; =  Change  in  return of  individual  security  for  unit  change  in  return  of 
market index. 
 
Significance  of  Beta: Beta  measures  the  volatility  of  a  security‟s  returns 
relative  to  the  market,  the  larger the  beta,  the  more  volatile  the security.  A 
beta  of  1.0  indicates  a  security  of  average  risk.  A stock  with  beta  greater 
than  1.0  has  above  average  risk  i.e.  its  returns  would  be  more  volatile than 
the  market  returns.  For  example,  when  market  returns  move  up  by  6%,  a
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stock with beta of 2 would find its returns moving  up by 12% (i.e. 6% x 2). 
Similarly,  decline  in  market  returns by  6%  would  produce  a  decline  of  12% 
(i.e. 6% x 2) in the return of that security. 
Positive  beta  of  security: it  indicates  that  return  on  security  is  dependent 
on market return and will be in the same direction as that of market; 
Negative beta of security: it indicates that return on security is dependent 
on market return and will be in the opposite direction as that of market; 
Zero beta: it indicates return on security is independent of market return. 
Portfolio  Beta: Systematic  risk  can  be  measured  by  using  Beta  (β).  The 
beta for the market is equal to 1.0. Beta explains the systematic relationship 
between  the  return  on  a  security  and  the  return  on  the  market  by using  a 
simple  linear  regression  equation.  The  return  on  a  security  is  taken  as  a 
dependent  variable  and  the  return  on  market  is  taken  as  independent 
variable then, 
Ri = Rf + β (Rm – Rf)    where, 
Ri = Return on security; 
Rf = Risk free return on security; 
Rm = Return on market 
Β = Responsive of security returns to market returns. 
The  beta  parameter (β) in  the  above  equation  represents  the  slope  of  the 
above  regression  relationship. The  portfolio  beta  is  merely  the  weighted 
average of the betas of individual securities included in the portfolio. 
Portfolio beta, β = ∑ proportion of security × beta for security. 
Beta  is  calculated  from  historical  data  on  the  presumption  that  future  will 
replicate history which may not always be correct. 
 
Portfolio  Analysis: Expected  return  of  a  portfolio  is  the  sum  of  the 
weighted  average  return  of  individual  securities  comprising  the  portfolio.  
The  weights  to  be  applied  for  calculation  of the  portfolio  return  are  the 
fractions of the portfolio invested in respective securities.  Formula is: 
rp =  -667558774;-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;-667558765;-667558774;  where 
rp = expected return of portfolio;
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xi = proportion of funds invested in each security;  
ri = expected return on securities; and 
n = number of securities. 
Covariance (a  statistical  measure)  between  two  securities  or  two  portfolios 
or  a  security  and  a  portfolio  indicates  how  the  rates  of  return  for  the  two 
concerned entities behave relative to each other. Covariance is calculated by 
the formula; 
CovAB =   -667558791;-667558808;−-667558791;̅-667558808; (-667558791;-667558807;−-667558791;̅-667558807;)
   where 
RA = Return on security A; 
R̅A = Expected or mean return of Security A; 
RB = Return on security B; 
R̅B = Expected or mean return of Security B. 
Covariance  of  2  securities  is  +ve  if  the  returns  consistently  move  in  same 
direction. 
Covariance  of  2  securities  is -ve  if  the  returns consistently  move  in  opposite 
direction. 
Covariance  of  2  securities  is  zero,  if  their  returns  are  independent  of  each 
other. 
Coefficient of correlation is expressed by the  formula: 
rAB = -667558806;-667558768;-667558761;-667558808;-667558807;
-667558790;-667558808;-667558790;-667558807;    where 
rAB = Coefficient of correlation between A & B; 
-667558858;-667558860;-667558859; = Covariance between securities A & B 
-667558860; = Standard deviation of security A. 
-667558859; = Standard deviation of security B 
Correlation coefficients may range from -1 to 1.  
A value  of  +1 indicates  a  perfect  positive  correlation between  the  two 
securities returns  
A  value  of -1  indicates  perfect  negative  correlation  between  the  two 
securities returns,  and 
A value of zero indicates that the returns are independent.
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Further, covariance  can  be  expressed  as  the product  of coefficient of 
correlation  between  the  securities  and  the  standard  deviation  of  each  of  the 
securities as shown below: 
-667558806;-667558768;-667558761;-667558808;-667558807; = rAB -667558790;-667558808;-667558790;-667558807; 
Covariance  between  two  securities  may  also  be  calculated  by  multiplying 
respective betas and the variance of market. 
-667558806;-667558768;-667558761;-667558808;-667558807;= βA βB sdm2 
The Variance of a Portfolio consists of 2 components (unlike the return of 
a portfolio where weighted average of individual securities is taken):  
a. Aggregate of the weighted variances of the constituent securities and  
b. Weighted covariances among different pairs of securities. 
Calculation  of  risk  In  case  of  only  2  securities,  A  &  B are  there  in 
portfolio, then Variance of portfolio is given by the formula 
Sdp2 = [XA2 SdA2 + XB2 SdB2] +2 [XAXB (rAB -667558790;-667558808; -667558790;-667558807;)] 
Sdp2 = Variance of the portfolio; 
XA = Proportion of funds invested in security A; 
XB = Proportion of funds invested in security B; 
SdA2 = Variance of security A; 
SdB2 = Variance of security B; 
-667558860; = Standard deviation of security A; 
-667558859; = Standard deviation of security B, and 
rAB = Correlation coefficient between the returns of A & B securities. 
In  case  of  perfect  +ve  correlation,  coefficient  of  correlation, rAB =  1.  So,  the 
variance of portfolio becomes: 
Sdp = XA SdA + XB SdB 
In case of perfect -ve correlation, coefficient of correlation,  rAB  = -1. So, the 
variance of portfolio becomes: 
Sdp = XA SdA - XB SdB 
In  case  of  perfect  no  correlation, rAB = 0.  So,  the  variance  of  portfolio 
becomes: 
Sdp2 = XA2 SdA2 + XB2 SdB2  and
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Sdp = [XA2 SdA2 + XB2 SdB2]1/2 
 
Portfolio Variance can also be calculated by the formula: 
Sdp2 = [( -667558785;-667558774;-667558089;-667558774;)-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;-667557936;-667558790;-667558770;-667557936;]+[ -667558785;-667558774;-667557936;-667558788;-667558790;-667558791;-667557936;]-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;   Where, 
Sdp2 = Variance of portfolio; 
Xi = Proportion of the Stock in portfolio; 
-667558147;-667558826; = Beta of the stock i in portfolio; 
Sdm2 = Variance of the index; 
USR = Unsystematic Risk 
First  component is weighted  average  of  systematic  risk  and  second 
component  is  weighted  average  of  unsystematic  risk and  sum  of  these  is 
total risk. 
Optimum proportion of investment in case of 2 securities: Formula for 
Optimum proportion  of  investment  in  case  of  2  securities  i &  j is  calculated 
by the formula: 
-667558785;-667558774;= 
-667558790;-667558773;-667557936;− -667558765;-667558774;-667558773; -667558790;-667558774;-667558790;-667558773;
-667558790;-667558774;-667557936;+ -667558790;-667558773;-667557936;− -667557936;-667558765;-667558774;-667558773; -667558790;-667558774;-667558790;-667558773;
 = 
-667558790;-667558773;-667557936;− -667558806;-667558768;-667558761;.-667558774;-667558773;
-667558790;-667558774;-667557936;+ -667558790;-667558773;-667557936;− -667557936;-667558806;-667558768;-667558761;.-667558774;-667558773;
 
Where, -667558785;-667558774; is  the  proportion  of  investment  in  security  i.    Proportion  of 
investment in security j will be (1 – j). 
Reduction  or  dilution  of  Portfolio  Risk  through  Diversification: The 
process  of combining  more than  one  security  in  to  a  portfolio  is  known  as 
diversification.  The  main purpose  of  this  diversification  is  to  reduce  the  total 
risk  by  substantially mitigating  the  unsystematic  risk,  without  sacrificing 
portfolio return. Unsystematic Risk keeps reducing as more and more shares 
are  added  to  the  portfolio say  upto  around  25  securities.   Beyond  this  there 
will  not  be  any  significant  change  in  the  unsystematic  risk,  despite  addition 
of  securities  to  portfolio.    Standard  deviation  of  the  portfolio  keeps  reducing 
for  the  initial  addition  of  around  25  securities. This  happens  in  all  cases 
except when the shares are +vely correlated.   
Portfolio  with  more  than  two  securities: The  total  risk  of  an  individual 
security  comprises  two components; the  market  related  risk called 
systematic  risk  and  the  unique  risk  of  that  particular  security  called
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unsystematic  risk. By  combining  securities  into  a  portfolio  the  unsystematic 
risk  specific  to  different  securities  is cancelled  out.  Consequently,  the  risk  of 
the  portfolio  as a  whole  is  reduced  as  the  size  of  the portfolio  increases. 
Ultimately  when  the  size  of  the  portfolio  reaches  a  certain  limit,  it  will 
contain  only  the  systematic  risk  of  securities  included  in  the  portfolio.  The 
systematic risk, however, cannot be eliminated. Thus, a fairly large portfolio 
has  only  systematic  risk  and  has relatively  little  unsystematic  risk.  That  is 
why  there  is  no  gain  in  adding  securities  to  a  portfolio beyond  a  certain 
portfolio size. 
Calculation  of Risk  of  Portfolio  with more than  two securities:  The 
portfolio  variance  and  standard  deviation  depend  on  the  proportion  of 
investment  in  each security  as  also  the  variance  and  covariance  of  each 
security  included  in  the  portfolio. The  formula  for  portfolio  variance  of  a 
portfolio with more than two securities is as follows: 
Sdp2 =   -667558785;-667558774; -667558785;-667558773; -667558806;-667558768;-667558761;-667558774;-667558773;-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937; =   -667558785;-667558774; -667558785;-667558773; -667558765;-667558774;-667558773;-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;-667558790;-667558774; -667558790;-667558773;    where, 
Sdp2 = Variance of Portfolio; 
Xi  =  Proportion  of  funds  invested  in  security  i  (the  first  of  a  pair  of 
securities). 
Xj  =  Proportion  of  funds  invested  in  security  j  (the  second  of  a  pair  of 
securities). 
Covij = The Covariance between the pair of securities i and j; 
 -667558826;-667558825; = Correlation Coefficient between securities i and j; 
-667558826; = Stabdard deviation of Security i; 
-667558825; = Stabdard deviation of Security j; 
n = Total number of securities in the portfolio. 
From  a given  set  of  'n'  securities,  any  number  of  portfolios  can  be  created. 
These portfolios may comprise of two securities, three securities, all the way 
up  to  'n'  securities.  A  portfolio  may contain  the  same  securities  as  another 
portfolio but with  different weights. A  new portfolio can  be  created either by 
changing  the  securities  in  the  portfolio  or  by  changing  the  proportion of 
investment in the existing securities.   
Portfolio Analysis is Determination  of  expected  return  and  risk  (variance 
or  standard  deviation)  of  each portfolio  that  can  be  used  to  create  a  set  of 
selected securities for portfolio management.
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Markowitz  Model:  This  model  is  used  to  choose  a  particular  portfolio 
among alternative portfolios. Following are the assumptions: 
a. The  return  on  an  investment  summarises  the  outcome  of  the 
investment. 
b. The investors can visualise a probability distribution of rates of return. 
c. The investors' risk estimates are proportional to the variance of return 
they perceive for a security or portfolio. 
d. Investors  base  their  investment  decisions  on  two  criteria  i.e.  expected 
return and variance of return. 
e. All investors are risk averse. For a given expected return he prefers to 
take  minimum  risk,  for  a  given  level  of  risk  the  investor  prefers  to  get 
maximum expected return. 
f. Investors  are  assumed  to  be  rational  in  so  far  as  they  would  prefer 
greater  returns  to  lesser  ones  given  equal  or  smaller  risk  and  are  risk 
averse.  
g. Return could be any suitable measure of monetary inflows like NPV but 
yield  has  been  the  most  commonly  used  measure  of  return,  so  that 
where  the  standard  deviation  of  returns  is  referred  to  it  is  meant  the 
standard deviation of yield about its expected value. 
Markowitz  has  developed  the  concept  of  Efficient  Frontier  based  on  risk 
return  relationship.    He  says  that  a  portfolio  is  not  efficient  if there  exists 
another portfolio with: 
a. A  higher  expected  value  of  return  and  a  lower  standard  deviation 
(risk). 
b. A  higher  expected  value  of  return  and  the  same  standard  deviation 
(risk) 
c. The same expected value but a lower standard deviation (risk) 
He says  that  if  the  portfolio  of  an  investor  is  not  efficient, then  the  investor 
will:  
a. Increase the expected value of return without increasing the risk. 
b. Decrease the risk without decreasing the expected value of return, or 
c. Obtain  some  combination  of  increase  of  expected  return  and  decrease 
risk. 
He does this by switching his investment over the efficient frontier.
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He  says  that  all investments  are  to  be  plotted  on  a  risk  return  graph  and 
Efficient  Frontier  is  to  be  marked  containing  all  efficient  portfolios. the 
shaded portion represents all feasible solutions. An efficient portfolio has the 
highest  return  among  all  portfolios  with  identical  risk  and  the  lowest  risk 
among  all  portfolios  with  identical  return.    In  the  above  diagram,  P    Y R W 
are on efficient frontier.   
Lines c1,  c2,  and  c3  are  indifference curves for different  customers  with 
regard  to  risks  and  associated  returns  of  different  portfolios.   The  investor 
has  to  select  a  portfolio  from  the  set  of  efficient  portfolios  lying  on  the 
efficient frontier.  This  will  depend  upon  his  risk-return appetite.  As  different 
investors  have  different preferences,  the  optimal  portfolio  of  securities  will 
vary  from  one  investor  to  another. Optimal  portfolio  to  an  investor  will  be 
the  point  where  the  indifference  curve  meets  the  efficient  frontier.    For  c3 
customer,  optimal  portfolio  will  be  at  point  R.  At  Point  w,  returns  and  risk 
are at peak. Since this is not customer preference line, it is ignored. 
 
Capital  Asset  Pricing  Model  (CAPM): CAPM  provides  a  conceptual  frame 
work for evaluating any investment decision where capital is committed with 
a  goal  of  producing  future  returns. The  Capital  Asset  Pricing  Model  was 
developed  by  Sharpe,  Mossin  and  Linter  in  1960.  The model  explains  the 
relationship  between  the  expected  return,  non  diversifiable  risk  and  the 
valuation  of  securities.  It  considers  the  required  rate  of  return  of  a  security 
on  the  basis  of  its contribution  to  the  total  risk.  It  is  based  on  the  premises 
that  the  diversifiable  risk  of  a  security is  eliminated  when  more  and  more 
securities are added to the portfolio. However, the systematic risk cannot be 
diversified  and  is related  with that  of  the  market  portfolio.  All securities  do
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not have same level of systematic risk. The systematic risk can be measured 
by beta. ß  under  CAPM,  the  expected  return  from  a  security  can  be 
expressed as: 
Expected return on security = Rf + Beta (Rm – Rf) 
The  model  shows  that  the  expected  return  of  a  security  consists  of  the  risk-
free  rate  of  interest and  the  risk  premium.  The  CAPM,  when  plotted  on  the 
graph  paper  is  known  as  the Security  Market  Line  (SML). Usually  Beta  is 
plotted  on  X  Axis  and  required  return  on  Y  Axis. Security  market  line 
measures  the  relation  between  systematic  risk  and  return.  Formula  for 
Security Line is: 
y = -667558089;x +-667558090; 
where, x is independent variable and y dependant variable. 
Slope  of  security  line  indicates BETA. major  implication  of CAPM  is  that  not 
only  every  security  but  all portfolios  too  must be plotted on  SML.   This 
implies  that  in  an  efficient  market,  all  securities expected  returns are 
commensurate with their riskiness, measured by ß. 
CAPM is based on following assumptions: 
a. The investor‟s objective is to maximise the utility of terminal wealth; 
b. Investors make choices on the basis of risk and return; 
c. Investors have identical time horizon; 
d. Investors have homogeneous expectations of risk and return; 
e. Information is freely and simultaneously available to investors; 
f. There  is  risk-free  asset,  and  investor  can  borrow  and  lend  unlimited 
amounts at the risk-free rate; 
g. There  are  no  taxes,  transaction  costs,  restrictions  on  short  rates  or 
other market imperfections; 
h. Total  asset  quantity  is  fixed,  and  all  assets  are  marketable  and 
divisible. 
CAPM Advantages: 
Risk  Adjusted  Return: CAPM provides  a  basis  for  estimating  the  required 
return on  an  investment  which  has  risk  in  built  into  it.  Hence  it  can  be  used 
as Risk Adjusted Discount Rate in Capital Budgeting. 
No  Dividend  Company: It  is  useful  in  computing  the  cost  of  equity  of  a 
company which does not declare dividend.
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CAPM has also some limitations: 
a. Reliability  of  Beta: Statistically  reliable  Beta  might  not  exist  for 
shares  of  many  firms.  It may not  be  possible  to  determine  the  cost  of 
equity  of  all  firms  using  CAPM.  All shortcomings  that  apply  to  Beta 
value apply to CAPM too. 
b. Other  Risks:  It  emphasises only  systematic  risk  while  unsystematic 
risks  are  also important  to  share  holders  who  do  not  possess  a 
diversified portfolio. 
c. Information  Available:  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  important 
information  on  risk-free  interest  rate  and  expected  return  on  market 
portfolio as there are multiple risk-free rates for one while for another, 
markets being volatile it varies over time period. 
Under Valued and Over Valued Stocks: 
The CAPM model can be used to  buy, sell or hold stocks. CAPM provides the 
required  rate  of  return  on  a  stock  after  considering  the  risk  involved  in  an 
investment. Based on current market price one can identify as to what would 
be  the  expected  return  over  a  period  of  time.  By  comparing  the  required 
return with  the  expected  return  the  following  investment  decisions can  be 
made: If: 
On Return Basis: 
Expected Return < CAPM Return; Sell, since stock is overvalued. 
Expected Return > CAPM Return; Buy, since stock is undervalued 
Expected Return = CAPM Return; Hold. 
On Price Basis: 
Actual Market Price < CAPM price, stock is undervalued; so Buy 
Actual market Price > CAPM price, stock is overvalued; so, sell. 
Actual market Price = CAPM price, stock is correctly valued.;  
    Point of indifference. 
Characteristic  Line:    Characteristic  line  represents  the  relationship 
between the returns of two securities or a security and market return over a 
period  of  time.    The  differences  between  Security  Market  Line  and 
Characteristic Line are as below:
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Sl. # Aspect Security Market Line Characteristic Line 
1 Scheme 
Represents  relationship 
between  return  and  risk 
measured  in  terms  of 
systematic  risk  of a  security 
or portfolio. 
Represents  the  relationship 
between  the  returns  of  two 
securities  or  a  security  and 
market  return  over  a  period 
of time. 
2 Nature of Graph Security  Market  Line  is  a 
Cross Sectional Graph. 
Characteristic  Line  is  a  Time 
Series Graph. 
3 Comparison Beta  Vs.  Expected  Return 
are Plotted. 
Security  Returns  Vs.  Index 
Returns are Plotted. 
4 Utility 
Used  to  estimate  the 
expected return of a security 
vis-a-vis its Beta. 
Used  to  estimate  Beta  and 
also  to  determine  how  a 
security  return correlates  to 
a market index return. 
 
Beta  in  case  of  Leverage:  The  risk  of  a  company  changes  with  change  in 
the debt equity ratio.  A company with no debt funds will be less risky than a 
company  with  debts  which  has  the  commitments  of  interest  and  principal 
repayments.   A  leveraged  company  will  have  the  risk  of  an  unleveraged 
company and in addition to this it will also have risk related to the leverage. 
To ascertain Beta for leveraged companies formula is: 
-667558089;-667558771;  =  -667558089;-667558762;-667558771; [1 + (1 – T) D / E] = -667558089;-667558762;-667558771; + -667558089;-667558762;-667558771;  -667557937;−-667558789; -667558805;/-667558804;  Where, 
-667558147;= Leveraged -667558089; 
-667558147;ul= Unleveraged -667558147; 
D = Debt; E = Equity, and T = Rate of Tax  
 
Arbitrage  Pricing  Theory  Model:  CAPM is  single  factor  model,  as  against 
Arbitrage  Pricing  Theory  Model  which  uses  4  factors  Viz.,  Inflation  and 
money  supply,  Interest  Rate,  Industrial  Production,  and  personal 
consumption.  Under this method, expected return on investment is: 
E (Ri) = Rf + λ 1βi1 + λ 2 βi2 + λ 3 βi3 + λ 4 βi4  where, 
E(Ri) = Expected return on equity; 
λ  1,  λ  2  ,  λ  3  ,  λ  4  are  average  risk  premium (Rm – Rf) for  each  of  the  four 
factors  in  the  model  and βi1 ,  βi2 ,  βi3 ,  βi4 are  measures  of  sensitivity  of  the 
particular security i to each of the four factors.
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Sharpe  Index  Model: This  model  assumes  that  co-movement  between 
stocks  is  due  to change  or  movement  in  the  market  index.  Casual 
observation of the stock prices over a period of time reveals that most of the 
stock  prices  move  with  the  market  index.  As  per  this  model,  expected 
return on security i, is calculated by the formula; 
R i = α i + β i R m + ∈i where, 
Ri = expected return on security i 
αi = intercept of the straight line or alpha co-efficient 
βi = slope of straight line or beta co-efficient 
Rm = the rate of return on market index 
€i = error term. 
Alpha of a stock can be found by the above formula or alternatively by fitting 
a  straight  line  with  coordinates  (x1,  y1)  and  (x2,  y2)    where  x1,  x2 and  y1,  y2 
are  the  expected  returns  of  the  market  and  the  security  in  any  2  periods.  
Alpha is the value of intercept on Y Axis. Equation of the line in 2 point form 
is given by the formula: 
-667558862;− -667558862;-667557937;= 
-667558862;-667557936;− -667558862;-667557937;
-667558863;-667557936;− -667558863;-667557937;
 (-667558863;− -667558863;-667557937;) 
According to Sharpe, the return of stock can be divided into 2 components: 
 Return due to market changes (systematic risk)and  
 Return independent of market changes (unsystematic risk). 
Beta  indicates  the  sensitiveness  of  the  stock  returns  to  changes  in  the 
market return.   
The Variance of the security has 2 components: 
 Systematic or market risk, and  
 Unsystematic or unique risk. 
So,  the  variance  explained  by  the  market  index  (i.e.  Beta)  is  called 
systematic  risk  and  the  variance not explained by market  index  is 
unsystematic risk. 
Total variance (Sdi2) = Systematic risk (ßi2  X Sdm2) + Unsystematic risk 
Unsystematic risk will be the balancing figure. 
Formula for systematic risk is:
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systematic risk  = ßi2 X Variance of market index = ßi2  X Sdm2 
Unsystematic risk = Total Variance – systematic risk 
i.e. Unsystematic risk = Sdi2 - ßi2  X Sdm2 
(Sdm =  Standard  deviation  of  Market  index; ßi =  Beta  of  security  i; Sdi = 
Standard deviation of security i) 
When USR is given, Portfolio Variance is calculated by the formula: 
Sdp2 = [( -667558785;-667558774;-667558089;-667558774;)-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;-667557936;-667558790;-667558770;-667557936;]+[ -667558785;-667558774;-667557936;-667558788;-667558790;-667558791;-667557936;]-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;   Where, 
Sdp2 = Variance of portfolio; 
Xi = Proportion of the Stock in portfolio; 
-667558147;-667558826; = Beta of the stock i in portfolio; 
Sdm2 = Variance of the index; 
USR = Unsystematic Risk 
First  component is weighted  average  of  systematic  risk  and  second 
component  is  weighted  average  of  unsystematic  risk and  sum  of  these  is 
total risk. 
Coefficient  of  Determination (r2): Coefficient  of  determination  (r2)  gives 
the  percentage  of  variation  in  the  security‟s  return  that  is  explained  by  the 
variation of the market index return 
Systematic and Unsystematic risk can also be found by the formulas:  
Systematic risk (β) = variance of security X r2 = Sdi2 X r2 
 Unsystematic risk = variance of security (1 – r2) = Sdi2 (1 – r2) 
r2 = Coefficient of Determination. 
Sharpe  and  Treynor  ratios: These  two  ratios  measure  the  Risk  Premium 
per unit of Risk for a security or a portfolio of securities and provide the tools 
for comparing the performance of diverse securities and portfolios.  
Sharpe Ratio = (Ri – Rf)/Sdi    and 
Treynor Ratio = (Ri – Rf)/ βi Where, 
Ri = Expected return on stock i 
Rf = Return on a risk less asset 
Sdi = Standard Deviation of the rates of return for the ith Security
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βi =  Expected  change  in  the  rate  of  return  on  stock  i  associated  with  one          
unit change in the market return 
Higher the Risk Premium generated by a security or portfolio per unit of risk, 
the better and these ratios provide a useful tool for comparing securities and 
portfolios  with diverse  risk  return  profiles.  While  the  Sharpe  Ratio  uses  the 
standard  deviation (i.e.  total  risk) as  the measure  of  risk,  the  Treynor  Ratio 
uses the beta (i.e. systematic risk) as the measure of risk. 
Sharpe’s  Optimal Portfolio: The  steps  for  finding  out  the  stocks  to  be 
included in the optimal portfolio are as below: 
a. Find  out  the  “excess  return  to  beta”  ratio  for  each  stock  under 
consideration. 
b. Rank them from the highest to the lowest. 
c. Calculate  Ci  for  all  the  stocks/portfolios  according  to  the  ranked  order 
using the following formula: 
Ci = 
-667558894;-667558874;-667557936; (-667558895;−-667558895;)
-667558894;-667558895;-667557936;
-667558873;=-667557937;
-667557937;+-667558894;-667558874;-667557936; -667557936;
-667558894;-667558895;-667557936;-667558873;=-667557937;
  Where, 
-667558790;-667558770;-667557936; = Variance of the index; 
Ri = Expected return on stock i 
Rf = Return on a risk less asset 
βi  = Expected  change  in  the  rate  of  return  on  stock  i  associated  with  one          
unit change in the market return 
USR  =  Unsystematic  Risk i.e.,  variance  of  stock  movement  not  related  to 
index movement. 
d. Compute the cut-off point which is the highest value of Ci and is taken 
as C*. The stock whose excess-return to risk ratio is above the cut-off 
ratio  are  selected  and  all  whose ratios  are  below  are  rejected.  The 
main  reason  for  this  selection  is  that  since  securities are  ranked  from 
highest  excess  return  to  Beta  to  lowest,  and  if  particular  security 
belongs to  optimal  portfolio  all  higher  ranked  securities  also  belong  to 
optimal portfolio. 
e. Calculate  the  percent  to  be  invested  in  each  security  by  using  the 
following formula:
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% to be invested = -667558783;-667558774;
 -667558783;-667558774;-667558769;-667558774;=-667557937;
 Where, 
Zi = -667558089;-667558774;
-667558788;-667558790;-667558791;-667557936;(
-667558791;-667558774;−-667558791;
-667558089;-667558774;
− -667558806;∗) 
 
Formulation  of  Portfolio  Strategy: There  are  2  main  strategies  of 
portfolio, viz.  
a. Active Portfolio Strategy and 
b. Passive Portfolio Strategy. 
Active Portfolio Strategy: Most of the investment professionals follow  this 
strategy.   “Active”  fund  managers  try  to  identify  and  invest  in  stocks  of 
those  companies  that  they  think will  produce  better  returns  and  beat  the 
overall market (or Index).  Principles involved in this strategy are: 
a. Market Timing 
b. Sector Rotation 
c. Security Selection 
d. Use of Specialised Investment Concept 
Passive Portfolio Strategy: Passive strategy, is based on the principle that 
capital  market  is  fairly  efficient  with  respect  to  the  available  information. 
Hence  they  search  for  superior  return. Basically,  passive  strategy  involves 
adhering to two guidelines. 
a. Create a well diversified portfolio at a predetermined level of risk. 
b. Hold  the  portfolio  relatively  unchanged  over  time  unless  it  became 
adequately  diversified or  inconsistent  with  the  investor  risk  return 
preference. 
Funds which are passively managed are called index funds. 
Portfolio  Balancing: Balancing  of  portfolio  comprises  of  2  issues.  Viz.,  one 
Balancing the value of the portfolio and another Balancing the composition of 
the portfolio.  Balancing is done by following the below policies: 
A. Buy and Hold Policy:   This is a Do Nothing policy where shares and 
bonds are bought in a predetermined ratio and retained as such. 
a. Gives rise to a straight line pay off. 
b. Provides a definite downside protection. 
c. Performance between Constant mix policy and CPPI policy.
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B. Constant  Mix  Policy:  This  is  a Do  Something policy  where  shares 
and  bonds  are  bought  at  predetermined  ratio  and  reviewed  when 
significant  changes  take  place  and  the  portfolio  is  reset  to 
predetermined ratio by taking appropriate action. 
a. Gives rise to concave pay off drive. 
b. Doesn‟t  provide  much  downward  protection  and  tends  to  do 
relatively poor in the up market 
c. Tends to do very well in flat but fluctuating market. 
C. CPPI  Policy: This  is  Constant Proportion  Portfolio  Insurance  Policy, 
where the portfolio is frequently reviewed to ensure the investments in 
shares is maintained as per the following formula: 
Investment in shares = m * (Portfolio value – Floor Value) 
Floor  Value  is  the  value  which market  expects at  end  of  the  period  of 
investment and m is a constant factor. 
a. Gives rise to a convex pay off drive. 
b. Provides  good  downside  protection  and  performs well  in  up 
market. 
c. Tends to do very poorly in flat but in fluctuating market. 
d. As  market  increases  more  funds  will  be  diverted  to  market  and 
vice versa. 
 
Hedge  Funds: Hedge  Fund  is  an  aggressively  managed  portfolio  of 
investments  that  uses  advanced investment  strategies  such  as  leverage, 
long,  short  and  derivative  positions  in  both  domestic and international 
markets with the goal of generating high returns (either in an absolute sense 
or  over  a  specified  market  benchmark).  Investments in  hedge  funds  are 
illiquid  as  they  often  require  investors  to  keep  their  money  in  the  fund  for  a 
minimum period of at least one year. Hedge funds (unlike mutual funds) are 
mostly unregulated because they cater to sophisticated investors. 
Features of Hedge Funds:   
a. Utilize  a  variety  of  financial  instruments  to  reduce  risk,  enhance 
returns  
b. Hedge funds vary enormously in terms of investment returns, volatility 
and  risk.  Many,  but  not all,  hedge  fund  strategies  tend  to  hedge 
against downturns in the markets being traded. 
c. Hedge funds have the ability to deliver non-market correlated returns.
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d. Many  hedge  funds  have  as  an objective  consistency  of  returns  and 
capital preservation rather than magnitude of returns. 
e. Hedge  funds  are  managed  by  experienced  investment  professionals 
who are generally disciplined and diligent. 
f. Pension  funds,  endowments,  insurance  companies,  private banks  and 
high net worth individuals and families invest in hedge funds.  
g. Most hedge fund managers are highly specialized and trade only within 
their area of expertise and competitive advantage. 
h. Hedge  funds  benefit  by  heavily  weighting  hedge  fund  managers‟ 
remuneration towards performance incentives, thus attracting the best 
brains in the investment business. 
Hedging Strategies:  
a. Selling Short 
b. Using Arbitrage 
c. Trading Options or Derivatives 
d. Investing in Anticipation of a Specific Event 
e. Investing in Deeply Discounted Securities 
f. Many  of  the  strategies  used  by  hedge  funds  benefit  from  being  non-
correlated to the direction of equity markets. 
Styles of Hedge Funds: 
a. Aggressive Growth 
b. Distressed Securities 
c. Emerging Markets 
d. Funds of Hedge Funds: : Mix and match hedge funds and other pooled 
investment vehicles 
e. Income 
f. Macro: Participates  in  all  major  markets - equities,  bonds,  currencies 
and commodities - though not always at the same time. 
g. Market Neutral: Off sets positions. 
h. Market Timing 
i. Opportunistic 
j. Multi Strategy 
k. Short Selling 
l. Special Situations
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m. Value: Invests in  securities  perceived  to  be  selling  at  deep 
discounts to their intrinsic or potential worth. 
 
Random  Walk  Theory: Many  investment  managers  and  stock  market 
analysts  believe  that  stock  market  prices  can never  be  predicted  because 
they  are  not  a  result  of  any  underlying  factors  but  are  mere statistical  ups 
and  downs.  This  hypothesis  is  known  as  Random  Walk  hypothesis  which 
states that  the  behaviour  of  stock  market  prices  is  unpredictable  and  that 
there  is no  relationship between  the  present  prices  of  the  shares  and  their 
future  prices.  Proponents  of  this  hypothesis argue  that  stock  market  prices 
are  independent.  A  British  statistician,  M.  G.  Kendell,  found that  changes  in 
security prices behave nearly as if they are generated by a suitably designed 
roulette  wheel  for  which  each  outcome  is  statistically  independent  of  the 
past  history.  The  fact  that  there  are  peaks  and  troughs  in  stock  exchange 
prices  is  a  mere  statistical happening – successive  peaks  and  troughs  are 
unconnected.  In  the  layman's  language  it  may be  said  that  prices  on  the 
stock  exchange  behave  exactly  the  way  a  drunkard would  behave  while 
walking  in  a  blind  lane,  i.e.,  up  and  down,  with  an  unsteady  way  going  in 
any  direction  he likes,  bending  on  the  side  once  and  on the  other  side  the 
second time etc.  Views of supporters of this theory are as below: 
a. Prices of shares in stock market can never be predicted. 
b. The reason is that the price trends are not the result of any underlying 
factors, but that they represent a statistical expression of past data. 
c. There  may  be  periodical  ups  or  downs  in  share  prices,  but  no 
connection  can  be  established between  two  successive  peaks  (high 
price of stocks) and troughs (low price of stocks) 
Factors  Affecting  Investment  Decision  In  Portfolio: Objectives  of 
investment Decision are varied:  
a. Growth oriented or income oriented 
b. Duration of investment 
c. Risk appetite of investor 
d. Whether investment is being made to hedge. 
e. To invest in Bonds or Stocks; etc. 
Impact of Government Policies on Securities: 
a. Licensing Policy 
b. Restrictions on commodity and stock trading in exchanges
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c. Changes in FDI and FII rules. 
d. Export and import restrictions 
e. Restrictions on shareholding in different industry sectors 
f. Changes in tax laws and corporate and Securities laws. 
Efficient  Market  Theory:  This  theory states  that at  any  given  time,  all 
available  information  is  fully  reflected  in securities'  prices.  Thus  this  theory 
implies  that  no  investor  can  consistently  outperform  the market  as  every 
stock  is appropriately  priced  based  on  available  information.  Thus  it  is 
impossible  to either  purchase  undervalued  stocks  or  sell  stocks  for  inflated 
prices  as  stocks are  always  traded  at  their  fair  value  on  stock  exchanges. 
Hence the  only  way  to  outperform market is through  expert  stock  selection 
or  market  timing and  that  is  the way  an investor  can  possibly  obtain  higher 
returns by purchasing riskier investments. 
Several  researchers  like Kendall,  Roberts,  Oshorne  etc.  have  conducted 
several  tests  on  price  behaviour  of  stocks  and  all  the  results  indicated  that 
stock  price  movements  are  like  the  movement  of  a  drunkard  in  an  open 
area.    No  predictions  can  be  made.    The  reason  for  this  is  efficient  and 
perfect  markets  due  to  which  any  special  information  of  a  stock  will  find  its 
way  into  market  and  accordingly  the  shares  get  repriced.    Following  are  the 
Reasons for random movement of stock prices: 
a. Information  is  freely  and  instantaneously  available  to  all  market 
participants. 
b. Price  change is only  response  to  new  information  that  is  unrelated  to 
previous information and therefore unpredictable. 
c. Keen  competition  among  the  market  participants  ensures  that  market 
will reflect intrinsic values since participants fully impound all available 
information. 
Misconception  about  Efficient  Market  Theory: Efficient  Market  Theory 
signifies  that  prices  impound  all  available information  and so  it  implies that 
market does not possess perfect forecasting abilities. 
Although  prices tend  to  fluctuate  they  cannot  reflect  fair value.  This  is 
because  the  future  is uncertain  and  the  market  springs  surprises  continually 
as fluctuations in prices reflect the surprises. 
The  random  movement  of  stock  prices  suggests  that  stock  market  is 
irrational.
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Inability  of  institutional  portfolio  managers  to  achieve  superior  investment 
performance  implies  that they  lack  competence  in  an  efficient  market.  It  is 
not  possible  to  achieve  superior  investment performance  since  all  portfolio 
managers do their job well in a competitive setting. 
Three forms of Efficient Market Hypothesis: The Efficient Market Theory 
lays  stress  on  the speed of information that affects the  prices  of securities. 
As  per  research  studies, it  was  observed  that if information  is slowly 
incorporated  in  the  price, it  provides  an  opportunity  to  earn  excess  profit. 
However, once the information is incorporated then investor cannot earn this 
excess profit.  There are 3 levels of market efficiency: 
a. Weak  form  efficiency:   Prices reflect  all  information  found  in  the 
record of past prices and volumes. 
b. Semi – Strong  efficiency: Prices reflect  not  only  all  information 
found  in  the  records of  past prices  and  volumes  but  also  all  other 
publicly available information. 
c. Strong  form  efficiency: Prices reflect  all  available  information  public 
as well as private. 
Proof  of  weak  form  of  efficiency: According  to  the  Weak  form Efficient 
Market  Theory  current  price  of  a  stock  reflects all  information  found  in  the 
record  of  past prices  and  volumes.  This  means  that  there  is relationship 
between  the  past  and  future  price movements.  This  is  affirmed  through  3 
tests: 
a. Serial Correlation Test:  In this test, price changes in one period are 
correlated  with price  changes in another  period.  Price  changes  are 
considered  to  be  serially independent.  Serial  correlation  studies 
employing  different  stocks, at different  time  lags  and different  time 
periods have  been  conducted  to  detect  serial  correlation  but  no 
significant serial  correlation  could  be  discovered.  These  studies  were 
carried on short term trends viz. daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly 
and  not  in  long  term  trends  in  stock  prices  as  in such  cases, Stock 
prices tend to move upwards. 
b. Run  Test: Given  a  series  of  stock  price  changes  each  price  change  is 
designated  + if  it represents  an  increase  and – if  it  represents  a 
decrease. The resulting series may be -, +,+ ,+, - , -, - , +, +.
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A  run  occurs  when  there  is  no  difference  between  the  sign  of  two 
changes. When  the sign  of  change  differs,  the  run  ends  and  new  run 
begins.  
Price Incr. / Decr.  +,+,+,-,-,+,-,+,-,-,+,+,+,-,+,+,+,+ 
Run              1    2   3 4 5   6  7     8 9 
To  test  a  series  of  price  change  for  independence,  the  number  of  runs 
in  that  series  is compared  with  a  number  of  runs  in  a  purely  random 
series of the same size to determine whether it is statistically different. 
The results of these studies strongly support the Random Walk Model. 
Calculation:  To test efficiency, following procedure is adopted: 
First, number of runs r is calculated. 
Secondly, N+ &  N- are  calculated.    These  are  the  number  of  +ve  & -
ve signs in the sample. 
Thirdly, N is calculated.  N = N+ + N- = Total observations – 1 
Fourthly, As per Null hypothesis, the number of runs in a sequence of 
N  elements  as  random  variable  whose  conditional  distribution  is  given 
by  observations  of  N+ and  N- is  approximately  normal  with Mean  µ 
which is calculated as 
µ= -667557936; +−
+ -667557937; 
Fifthly, Standard deviation,  is calculated by the formula: 
=  µ−-667557937; (µ−-667557936;)
−-667557937; 
Sixthly, If  the  sample  size  is  N,  then  it  will have  (N - 1)  degrees  of 
freedom.  For this particular degrees of freedom, and the given level of 
significance, using  the  value ‘t’ from  t-table,  Upper  and  Lower  limits 
are found by the formula: 
Upper / Lower Limit = µ ± t *  
Lastly, If  the  value  of r falls  within  the  upper  and  lower  limits,  it  is 
called  weak  form  of  efficiency,  and  if  it  falls  outside  the  limits,  it  is 
called strong form of efficiency. 
c. Filter  Test:  Under  this  test,  if  the  price  of a stock  increases  by  at 
least N% buy and  hold it  until its price  decreases by at  least N% from
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a subsequent high. When the price decreases at least N% or more, sell 
it. If the behaviour of stock price changes is random, filter rules should 
not be  applied  and in  such case a  buy  and  hold  strategy is  to  be 
adopted.  Studies  suggest  that  filter rules  do  not  outperform  a  single 
buy  and  hold  strategy  particularly after  considering commission  on 
transaction. 
Proof  of  Semi  Strong  Efficiency: According  to Semi-strong  form  efficient 
market theory  stock  prices  adjust  rapidly  to  all  publicly  available 
information.  By  using  publicly available  information,  investors  will  not  be 
able  to  earn  above  normal  rates  of  return  after considering  the  risk  factor. 
To  test  semi-strong  form  efficient  market  theory,  a  number  of  studies were 
conducted to answer the following queries:  
 Whether  it is possible  to  earn  the  above normal  rate  of  return  after 
adjustment for risk, using only publicly available information? and  
 How rapidly  prices  adjust  to  public  announcement  with  regard  to 
earnings, dividends, mergers, acquisitions, stock splits? 
Several studies have been made on the above issues and it is observed that, 
the prices of stocks moved up significantly before announcements than after 
announcements.  The studies have also brought out following observations: 
 Stock  price  adjust  gradually  not  rapidly  to  announcements  of 
unanticipated changes in quarterly earnings. 
 Small firms‟ portfolio seemed to outperform large firms‟ portfolio. 
 Monday‟s return is lower than return for the other days of the week. 
Thus it is affirmed that random movement of stock prices holds good. 
Proof  of  Strong  Efficiency: According  to Strong  form  efficient  market 
theory  stock  prices  adjust  rapidly  to  all  publicly and  privately available 
information.  
To  test  this theory,  the  researchers analysed  returns  earned  by  certain 
groups  viz.  Corporate insiders,  specialists  on  stock  exchanges,  mutual  fund 
managers  who  have  access  to  internal information  (not  publicly  available), 
or posses greater resource or ability to intensively analyse information in the 
public  domain.  They  suggested  that  corporate  insiders  (having  access  to 
internal information)  and  stock  exchange  specialists  (having  monopolistic 
exposure) earn superior rate of return after adjustment of risk.
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Mutual  Fund managers  do  not  on  an  average  earn  a  superior  rate  of  return. 
No  scientific  evidence has  been  formulated  to  indicate  that  investment 
performance  of  professionally  managed  portfolios  as  a  group is better  than 
that of randomly selected portfolios. 
This  indicates  that  persons  who  are  privy  to  certain  information  earn  more 
than others who are not privy to such information. 
Challenges of Efficient Market Theory: Information is not freely available 
and  even  if  available,  the  authenticity  cannot  always  be  vouched.    At  times 
corporates  deliberately  allow  wrong  information  to  get  propagated.    Other 
challenges are: 
a. Limited  information  processing  capabilities: Human  information 
processing capabilities  are  sharply  limited.  Every  human  organism 
lives in  an  environment which  generates  millions  of  new  bits  of 
information  every  second  but the  bottle  necks  of  the  perceptual 
apparatus  does  not  admit  more  than  thousand  bits  per second  or 
possibly much less. 
Further, under  conditions  of  anxiety  and  uncertainty,  with  a  vast 
interacting information grid, the market can become a giant. 
b. Irrational  Behaviour:  It  is  generally  believed  that  investors‟ 
rationality  will  ensure  a  close correspondence  between  market  prices 
and  intrinsic  values.  But in  practice  this  is  not  true.   All sorts  of 
considerations enter  into  the  market  valuation  which  is  in  no way 
relevant  to  the  prospective  yield.  This  was  confirmed  by  L.  C.  Gupta 
who  found  that  the market  evaluation  processes  work  haphazardly 
almost  like  a  blind  man  firing  a  gun.  The market seems  to  function 
largely  on  hit  or  miss  tactics  rather  than  on  the  basis  of  informed 
beliefs about the long term prospects of individual enterprises. 
c. Monopolistic Influence: A  market is regarded as highly competitive. 
No  single  buyer  or seller  is  supposed to  have  undue  influence  over 
prices.  In  practice,  powerful  institutions and  big  operators  wield  great 
influence  over  the  market.  The  monopolistic  power  enjoyed by  them 
diminishes  the  competitiveness  of  the  market.  Due  to  monopolistic 
powers, prices are rigged for gains.
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Statutory  Warning: Investing  all  Liquid 
assets,  and  /  or  converting  all  fixed  assets 
into  liquid  assets  and  investing  in  Stock 
Market will be injurious to your wealth. 
 
Questions: 
a. Briefly explain the objectives of “Portfolio Management”. 
b. Distinguish between „Systematic risk‟ and „Unsystematic risk‟. 
c. Discuss the various kinds of Systematic and Unsystematic risk? 
d. What  sort  of  investor  normally  views  the  variance  (or  Standard 
Deviation)  of  an individual  security‟s  return  as  the  security‟s proper 
measure of risk? 
e. What  sort  of  investor  rationally  views  the  beta  of  a  security  as  the 
security‟s  proper measure  of  risk?  In  answering  the  question,  explain 
the concept of beta. 
f. Write  short  note  on  Factors  affecting  investment  decisions  in  portfolio 
management. 
g. Explain the Efficient Market Theory and what are major misconceptions 
about this theory? 
h. Explain  the  different  levels  or  forms  of  Efficient  Market  Theory and 
what are various empirical evidence for these forms? 
i. Explain the three form of Efficient Market Hypothesis. 
j. Explain different challenges to Efficient Market Theory. 
k. Discuss  the  Capital  Asset  Pricing  Model  (CAPM)  and  its  relevant 
assumptions. 
l. Discuss the Random Walk Theory. 
m. Discuss  how  the  risk  associated  with  securities  is affected by 
Government policy.
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Correlation: Correlation  indicates  the  strength  of  relationship  between  two 
variables. 
Covariance (a  statistical  measure)  between  two  securities  or  two  portfolios 
or  a  security  and  a  portfolio  indicating how  the  rates  of  return for  the  two 
concerned behave  relative  to  each  other. Covariance  between 2 securities 
can be +ve, -ve or zero. 
Coefficient  of  Correlation: Coefficient  of  Correlation  is  a  statistical 
measure  which  indicates  the  degree  to  which  changes  to  the  value  of  a 
variable indicates the change in the value of the other variable.  In positively 
correlated  variables,  the  value  of  the  variable  increases  or  decreases  in 
tandem  with  the  value  of  another  variable  and  the  change  depends  on  the 
degree  of  coefficient.    In  negatively  correlated  variables,  the  change  will  be 
vice versa.