History of Random Walk Theory The term ‘Random Walk’ was popularized by the 1973 book, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”, by Burton Malkiel, Professor of Economics and Finance at Princeton University. Burton G. Malkiel, did a test where his students were given a hypothetical stock that was initially worth fifty dollars. The closing stock price for each day was determined by a coin flip. If the result was heads the price would close a half point higher, and subsequently if the result was tails, it would close a half point lower. Each time there was a fifty-fifty chance of the price closing higher or lower than the previous day. There were cycles or trends determined from the tests. Malkiel then took the results in a chart and graph form to a chartist (a person who “seeks to predict future movements by seeking to interpret past patterns on the assumption Continue reading
Investment Management
Features of Life Insurance Contract
Human life is an income generating asset. This asset can be lost through unexpected death or made non functional through sickness or disability caused by an accident. On the other hand there is a certainty that death will happen, but its timing is uncertain. Life insurance protects against loss. Life insurance contract may be defined as the contract, whereby the insurer in consideration of a premium undertakes to pay a certain sum of money either on the death of the insured or on the expiry of a fixed period. The definition of the life insurance contract is enlarged by Section 2(ii) of the Insurance Act 1938 by including annuity business. Since, the life insurance contract is not an indemnity contract; the undertaking on the part of the insurer is an absolute one to pay a definite sum on maturity of policy at the death or an amount in installment for Continue reading
Mutual Fund Ownership Documents
In terms of practice that has evolved in the mutual funds industry, mutual funds have stopped issuing certificates to investors, in their open-ended schemes. Investors instead get an account statement, which shows their holdings and the price at which they were bought. Mutual fund holdings of an investor are identified by the account number. Investors can, if they wish, consolidate their holdings in a mutual fund across various schemes and receive a consolidated account statement. The account statement is computer generated and has no signature. It is also not an instrument that can be traded or transferred. It is a very safe way of holding mutual fund units. The account statement shows the holding details, the number of units outstanding and the value of the holdings. All transactions relating to purchase of units, redemption of units, dividends, re-investment etc., are shown in the account statement. The investors’ holdings in a Continue reading
International Commodity Exchanges
Recent years have witnessed a steep rise in the creation of the commodity exchanges along with a consistent expansion of the existing ones. The United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Singapore are homes to leading commodity futures exchanges in the world. Worlds Major Commodity Exchanges 1. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) The New York Mercantile Exchange is the world’s biggest exchange for trading in physical commodity futures. It is the primary trading forum for energy products and precious metals. The Exchange has been in existence for 132 years and performs trades through two divisions, the NYMEX divisions, which deals in energy and platinum and the COMEX division which trades in all the other metals. A major contribution of the Exchange has been to develop and launch energy futures and options contract in 1978 to facilitate price transparency and risk management in this key market. Exchange has Continue reading
Diversification of Risk in Portfolio Management
Average investors are risk averse. Therefore, they will be ready to invest into securities under the presumption of an adequate compensation for risk taking. The compensation for the risk taken should be in the form of minimal rate of return for the invested financial assets, and the rate is named the required rate of return. It has two components: Delayed consumption compensation (investors could have purchased goods and services with the assets they are to invest) and Risk acceptance compensation. Diversification is used to stabilize the potential return, and thus increase the value of the investment. Diversification stands for he investment of capital into several different securities or projects, all together called the portfolio. Each security or project entails certain risk; however, the only thing that matters to the investors who diversify their investments is the total risk (portfolio risk) and the portfolio return. There are two types of risks Continue reading
Call Option
Option Trading confers the right on the holder/buyer to buy/sell a specified asset (here foreign currency) on a specific price on or before a specific date but he has no obligation to buy/sell. Seller/Writer has an obligation to fulfill the contract if buyer/holder exercises the option. Whenever a person has an intention to buy foreign currency by paying a premium amount immediately, and settling the same on a later date, it is known as a Call option. Call option has two parties, one a buyer of a Call option and other a seller of a Call option. Example: Mr. A is interested in buying a US dollar. Spot rate is US$ 1 = 45.50. Mr. A believes that some 30 days down the line, with the budget coming up and the price of the US dollar would increase. Not wanting to take any chances, he goes to a dealer and Continue reading