Overview

Common investment philosophies and approaches to investment risk; The strategies of investment funds, e.g. mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds; Strategic and tactical asset allocation; Links between market efficiency and active/passive portfolio management; Benchmarking, performance measurement and attribution; Testing for excess returns: theory, methodologies and findings; The implementation of trading strategies e.g. high frequency trading and algorithmic trading.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply appropriate techniques to measure and interpret the performance and the risk associated with investment strategies.

• Articulate the theoretical rationale proposed in the academic literature for the apparent excess returns arising from some investment strategies.

• Critically analyse investment strategies relating to mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and algorithmic trading.

• Critically analyse theoretical and empirical perspectives relating to market efficiency, active and passive portfolio management.

• Critically evaluate common investment philosophies including value investing, growth investing, and small-cap investing, and the related empirical evidence.

• Explain key concepts relating to investment strategies and asset allocation.