The purpose of this project is to help you to gain an understanding of how the stock market works and of the relationship between theory and practice.
You are given a notional £200,000 to invest and manage. You are required to follow an active trading policy at least in the first term. In the second term you can follow a buy and hold policy. Shares must be bought in multiples of 100 if the price is less than £2 and in multiples of 50 if the price is greater than £2. Debentures and Government stocks, which have a nominal value of £100 each, may be bought without restriction.
Commission is payable on all purchases and sales, at the following rates:
Ordinary Shares 1.0% of value (minimum: £10)
Government Securities 0.7% of value (minimum: £12.50)
You may invest in overseas securities, though all transactions must be in £ Sterling.
Transfer stamp duty is payable on all share purchases: the rate is £0.50 for every £100 or fractional part of £100.
There are no overdraft facilities nor additional sources of finance. Your cash balance must not become negative.
You are required to liquidate your holdings by Friday 22 March, 2013, and to submit your portfolio project, together with your transactions table, by Friday 29 March, 2013. When writing up the project, there is no need to describe every single transactions you have entered into (though every transaction should be listed in your transaction sheet). You should:
(i) Outline the portfolio theory that you have applied in your project.
(ii) Carefully explain your investment policy, giving examples of how you implemented it and explaining how and why it changed over the life of the project (if it did);
(iii) Explain carefully what brought about the changes (for example, knowledge you gained on the course or from practical experience);
(iv) Comment on your findings.
(v) Comment on the divergence between the theory you have learnt on the course and the practical problems of implementation;
(vi) Comment on the performance of the stock market in general and on what you think has influenced it over the life of the project;
(vii) Provide an assessment of how well your strategy has worked in terms of risk and return. This will require a brief comparison with other strategies, one such being a buy-and-hold policy.
(viii)Any limitations that you encountered.