FINS5513: Investments
& Portfolio Selection
Course Overview
2024 Summer
Course Overview
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Teaching Staff
❑ You can also find this information from course outline p.8
Lecturer-in-charge
Course Overview
Name
Email
Jinzhao Du
jinzhao.du@unsw.edu.au
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Communication Via Moodle
❑ Please check Moodle Announcement regularly! All the important
course information will be post via Announcement
❑ All course-related questions MUST be posted on the discussion forum.
Discussion forums are available are Moodle:
Forum
Monitors
Discussion Forum: Lectures
Jinzhao Du and Huaizhou Li
Discussion Forum: iLab
Jinzhao Du and Huaizhou Li
Course Overview
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Communication Via Moodle
❑ Contact regarding private matters can still be emailed
❑ However, the application of special consideration MUST go through
formal channel:
➢ https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/special-consideration
➢ Please read course outline p.10 for more detail
Course Overview
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Prerequisite and Assumed
Knowledge
❑ Basic statistical analysis - must have:
➢ COMM5005 or ECON5248 or COMM5011
➢ Basic calculus and optimization
➢ Probability, distribution (mean/var/covar)
➢ Linear regression (OLS)
❑ Financial markets and instruments - should have:
➢ FINS5512 or equivalent
➢ 30-50 hours to catch up
❑ Basic accounting (accounting ratios): 10 hrs
❑ Basic microeconomics (utility theory): 10 hrs
❑ Basic macroeconomics (monetary policy): 10 hrs
Course Overview
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Assumed Knowledge:
Basic Statistics
❑ If you are in programs:
➢ 8413 (Master of financial analysis), or
➢ 9273 (Master of financial planning), or
➢ 5273 (Graduate certificate in financial planning), or
➢ 8127 (Property and development)
without a knowledge of basic statistics, you must allocate more
time to this course beyond the official workload
❑ Additional time required is approximately 40 to 60 hours
❑ Link to an online statistics course:
➢ http://onlinestatbook.com/2/index.html
Course Overview
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Assumed Knowledge:
FINS5512
❑ If you are in a degree program with FINS5512 as a required
course, you are strongly advised to take FINS5513 after you have
completed FINS5512
❑ If you are in program 8413 (Financial Analysis) without the
equivalent of FINS5512, you must allocate more time to this
course beyond the official workload
❑ Additional time required is approximately 30 to 50 hours
Course Overview
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Textbook
❑ The textbook for the course is:
➢ Investments, by Z. Bodie, A. Kane, and A. Marcus, 11th Ed.,
McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2018
➢ UNSW Bookshop
▪ Usually gives a discount
➢ McGraw Hill eBook
▪ May be early purchase discounts
▪ www.mheducation.com.au
➢ Other Bookshops (Physical/online) or second hand
❑ You may use earlier (up to the 9th edition) or later versions of the
text. However, some of the references in the lecture notes and the
content/examples will not always be the same
Course Overview
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Course Schedule
❑ You can also find this information from course outline p.6-7
Week
Activity
Content
Week 1: 1 January - 7 January
Lecture
Investment Overview: Risk, Return, Risk Aversion,
and Diversification
Reading: BKM Chapters 5-7
Lecture
Forming Optimal Portfolios
Reading: BKM Chapters 6, 7
Week 2: 8 January - 14 January Lecture
CAPM and SIM
Reading: BKM Chapters 8, 9
Lecture
Week 3: 15 January - 21
January
Course Overview
Single Index Models (SIM), Active Investing and
Multi-factor Models
Reading: BKM Chapters 8, 10
Laboratory iLab Data exercise in-class demonstration
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Course Schedule
Week
Activity
Content
Week 3 : 15 January - 21
January
Lecture
Portfolio Performance Evaluation and Efficient
Market Hypothesis (EMH)
Reading: BKM Chapters 24,11
Mid-Term Quiz on Saturday
Week 4 : 22 January - 28
January
Lecture
Bond Pricing and The Term Structure of Interest
Rates
Reading: BKM Chapters 14, 15
Lecture
Term Structure Hypothesis and Duration
Reading: BKM Chapters 15-16
Week 5 : 29 January - 4
February
Course Overview
Assessment Data Exercise Due
Ethical Module Due
Final Exam
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Lecture
❑ Lecture format will be a 3-hour session and will occur twice in all weeks.
Lecture time
Delivery mode
Wed 14:00 – 17:00
Online (zoom link will be provided on Moodle)
Fri 14:00 – 17:00
➢ For iLab (week 3): Same zoom link on data exercise demonstration
➢ Lecture recording will be provided on Moodle
Course Overview
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Assessment
❑ In-class participation (10%)
➢ Weeks 1 – 4
➢ More detail will be explained in week 1 lecture
❑ Mid-Term Quiz (15%)
➢ 20th January (week 3), Sydney Time
➢ Coverage: Lecture 1 – 4 (week1-2) material
➢ More detail will be provided via announcement
❑ Data exercise (20%)
➢ Due date:11:55 pm 29th January (week 5), Sydney time
➢ More detail will be provided in iLab (week 3) and via announcement
Course Overview
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Assessment
❑ Ethics Module (5%)
➢ Due date: 11:55 pm 30th January (week 5), Sydney time
➢ Already available on Moodle
➢ Follow the Moodle instructions
➢ Any late submission will not be allowed
❑ Final Examination (50%)
➢ Held during the UNSW Exam Period (date TBA)
➢ More detail will be provided in week 4 and via announcement
Course Overview
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Other Investment Electives
❑ FINS5517: Applied port. mgt and modelling
❑ FINS5541: Adv. investments and funds mgt
❑ FINS5542: Applied funds management
❑ FINS5535: Deriv. and risk mgt techniques
❑ FINS5536: Fixed income sec. and interest rate deriv.
❑ FINS5534: Strategic mgt of credit risk and loan policy
❑ FINS5523: Alternative asset classes
❑ FINS5566: Trading – financial securities
Course Overview
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