BE313-5-AU-CO:
Portfolio Analysis

The details
2024/25
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
12 August 2024

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
BE300 or BE303
(none)

 

BE314, BE329, BE331, BE332, BE335, BE630, BE631, BE633, BE937

Key module for

BSC N420 Accounting and Finance,
BSC N422 Accounting and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC NN43 Accounting and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NNK3 Accounting and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
MACCN440 Accounting and Finance,
MACCN441 Accounting and Finance (Including Placement Year),
MACCN442 Accounting and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N390 Banking and Finance,
BSC N391 Banking and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N392 Banking and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC NH90 Banking and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N300 Finance,
BSC N301 Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N302 Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N304 Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC GN13 Finance and Mathematics,
BSC GN15 Finance and Mathematics (Including Placement Year),
BSC GN18 Finance and Mathematics (Including Foundation Year),
BSC GN1H Finance and Mathematics (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N344 Finance and Management,
BSC N345 Finance and Management (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N346 Finance and Management (Including Placement Year),
BSC N347 Finance and Management (Including Foundation Year),
LLB MN10 Law with Finance,
LLB MN11 Law with Finance (Including Year Abroad),
LLB MN12 Law with Finance (Including Placement Year),
LLB MN13 Law with Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N355 International Business and Finance,
BSC N356 International Business and Finance (Including Placement Year),
BSC N357 International Business and Finance (Including Year Abroad),
BSC N358 International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N358CO International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year)

Module description

This module focuses on the theoretical and empirical underpinning of trading strategies adopted by fund managers. The course shall outline the main theories of risk and return and explore the implications of these theories for investors' decisions.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To give students an appreciation of different approaches to portfolio management.

  • To examine how investors may fully exploit the benefits of diversification.

  • To provide students with an understanding of the models that are relevant to the management of bond portfolios.

  • To introduce students to the main asset pricing models.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:



  1. Understand what is meant by an efficient portfolio and how to identify efficient portfolio.

  2. Explain how investors may fully exploit the benefits of diversification.

  3. Understand the importance of the CAPM and APT.

  4. Evaluate competing measures of bond risk.


Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)


By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:



  1. Develop quantitative skills from assessing risk and returns across different asset classes such as stocks and bonds.

  2. Identify and implement investment strategies in determining the optimal mix of risk-return investment portfolios.

  3. Critically evaluate portfolio performance and adjust portfolios to meet the investment objectives.

  4. Evaluate financial information and make investment management decisions.

Module information

This module is part of the Q-Step pathway. Q-Step is an award which you can gain simply by enrolling on specific modules and will signal to employers your capability in quantitative research. Learn more about the Q-Step pathway and enhance your degree now.


This module will address questions such as: What is the appropriate measure of risk for a particular security? How might investors decide on the weightings of different assets in their portfolios? How can we identify mispriced stocks? Should you invest your savings in an actively managed fund or in a passive fund?


The module will begin with an overview of how investors measure a security's risk and return and then, using Markowitz's mean-variance criteria, shall illustrate how efficient portfolios can be constructed. The main difficulty with Markowitz style optimisers is how fund managers predict future risk and returns of individual securities. In this course we shall introduce some of the approaches used to make those predictions.


Bonds are often regarded as a relatively low risk asset class. Alternative measures of bond risk are evaluated, and a portfolio strategy that claims to remove all risk is outlined and critically evaluated.

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • One 2-hour lecture per week.
  • One seminar per week.

Work will be given in advance (see Moodle web page) for you to attempt before the class.

Bibliography

This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Individual Assignment  10/12/2024  100% 
Coursework   Individual Assignment  10/12/2024  100% 
Exam  Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 minutes during Summer (Main Period) 
Exam  Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 minutes during September (Reassessment Period) 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
30% 70%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
30% 70%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Emmanouil Pyrgiotakis, email: e.pyrgiotakis@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Emmanouil Pyrgiotakis & Dr Liangrong Chunyu
e.pyrgiotakis@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
Yes
Yes
No

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 40 hours, 38 (95%) hours available to students:
2 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Essex Business School

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