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Risk-Free Asset
Risk-Free Asset
A risk-free asset (Rf) is usually considered to be a central government security.
Generally, we assume the risk-free asset is a central government bond.
When introducing the risk-free asset we make a number of assumptions:
1. Asset markets are perfect - there are no taxes, no transaction costs, etc.
2. Quantities of assets are fixed and all assets are marketable (can be sold at any
time) and divisible (can be sold in any quantity).
. The introduction of a risk-free asset allows investors to borrow and lend at the riskfree rate.
. Once the risk-free asset is introduced we now have a new efficient frontier with our
opportunity set. The new efficient frontier is called the Capital Market Line (CML).
Risk-Free Asset
The New Efficient Frontier rontier
Expected
Return
Portfolio (M)
Rm
New efficient frontier is called the
Capital Market Line (CML)
Rf
m
BAFI1008 Business Finance
Risk
Risk-Free Asset
When a risk-free asset (Rf) is introduced investors can create portfolios that combine
this risk-free asset with a portfolio of risky assets (where the risky asset is M the
Market Portfolio).
The risk attached to the risk-free asset is equal to zero.
The straight line connecting Rf with M, the tangency point between Rf and the old
Efficient Frontier, becomes the new Efficient Frontier called the Capital Market Line
(CML).
Risk-Free Asset
CML
High
Expected Return
M
B
RB
RA Rc
Rf
A
C
Low
Low
C
A
B
High
Risk (i)
Risk-Free Asset
Introducing a risk-free asset enlarges the opportunity set - many more risk/return
combinations are possible.
The risk-free asset increases the return for each level of risk or, alternatively expressed,
it reduces the risk for every given level of return
The Capital Market Line (CML) is all linear combinations of the risk-free asset (R f ) and
the market portfolio (M)
With the CML all investors will hold some combination of the risk-free asset and the
market portfolio M. All investors will choose a portfolio on the CML where on the CML
will depend on their risk preferences, i.e. on their attitude towards risk.
Risk-Free Asset
Efficient Frontier And Investors Risk Preference
CML
B
High
B high expected
return & high risk
Expected Return
M
A
A low
risk & low
expected
return
Rf
Low
Low
Risk
High
Market Portfolio
The point of tangency can be shown to be the market portfolio, denoted by the letter
M, and represents the most diversified portfolio in the economy.
Each asset weight in the portfolio will reflect its relative importance in the economy
as a whole. Example if the retail sector makes up 60% of the national economy,
retail sector assets will make up 60% of the market portfolio M.
The market portfolio is considered as being one asset.
Expected
Return
M
Rf
RO
R
BO
NG
I
W
CML
ING
D
N
LE
To the right of M - Borrowing
Where:
Rp
= Portfolio Return
Rf
= Risk-Free Return
Rm
= Market Return
(Rm - Rf)
= Market Risk
= Portfolio Risk
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Lending At Rf
Example: Lending Portfolio Investor wants less risk than the market portfolio.
Rf = 10%, Rm = 12%, m = 8%, p = 6%
What will be the investors expected return?
CML Expected Return = Rp = Rf + (Rm Rf)p/m
Rp = 0.10 + (0.12 0.10)0.06/0.08
Rp = 0.10 + (0.02)0.75 = 0.10 + 0.015 = 0.115 = 11.50%
It makes sense that the expected return of the investor (11.50%) is less than the
expected return on the market portfolio (12%) because the investor wishes to have less
risk in his/her portfolio (p = 6%) than the risk of the market portfolio (m = 8%).
Remember, there is a positive relationship between risk and expected return.
Therefore, lower risk leads to lower expected return.
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Lending At Rf
Example: Lending Portfolio
The question can now be asked: What proportion of the investment should be in the riskfree asset Rf and in the risky asset Rm so that the investor can achieve his/her desired
level of risk of p = 6%?
The investor can tolerate less risk than the market risk, i.e. 6% / 8% = 0.75 times the risk
of the market, so wishes to invest only 75% of his/her funds in the market.
Investor always has exactly 100% of funds to invest so assuming the investor has $100
to invest:
$75 of funds will be invested in the market portfolio M (the risky asset); and
$25 of funds will be invested in the risk-free asset R f (i.e. the investor will buy $25 worth
of central government bonds, which means, in effect, the investor would be lending $25
to the central government).
By transferring some of his/her funds to the risk-free asset (and away from the risky
asset M) the investor is able to bring down the average risk of his/her portfolio.
In this example the investor transfers $25 of his/her funds to the risk-free asset, which
has a standard deviation of zero, and this brings down the average standard
deviation/risk of his/her portfolio.
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Borrowing At Rf
Example: Borrowing Portfolio Investor wants a higher return than the market
portfolio.
Rf = 10%, Rm = 12%, m = 8%, p = 14%
What will be the investors expected return?
CML Expected Return = Rp = Rf + (Rm Rf)p/m
Rp = 0.10 + (0.12 0.10)0.14/0.08
Rp = 0.10 + (0.02)1.75 = 0.10 + 0.035 = 0.135 = 13.50%
It makes sense that the expected return of the investor (13.50%) is higher than the
expected return on the market portfolio (12%) because the investor is prepared to have
more risk in his/her portfolio (p = 14%) than the risk of the market portfolio (m = 8%).
Remember, there is a positive relationship between risk and expected return.
Therefore, higher risk leads to higher expected return.
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Borrowing At Rf
Example: Borrowing Portfolio
The question can now be asked: What proportion of the investment should be in the risk-free
asset Rf and in the risky asset Rm so that the investor can achieve his/her desired return of R p =
13.50%?
The investor can tolerate more risk than the market risk, i.e. 14% / 8% = 1.75 times the risk of
the market, so wishes to invest 175% of his/her funds in the market.
Investor always has exactly 100% of funds to invest so assuming the investor has $100 to
invest:
$100 of the investors funds will be invested in the market portfolio M (the risky asset); and
$75 will be borrowed by the investor and also invested in the market portfolio R m.
In total the investor will invest $175 in the market portfolio R m.
By borrowing funds the investor increases the risk on his/her portfolio and is able to increase
the expected return on the portfolio to 13.50%.
In this example the investor borrows 75% of the required funds and invests the total funds in
the market portfolio Rm and this increases the total risk on the investors portfolio p by 75%
above that of the market portfolio m i.e. increases the standard deviation on the investors
portfolio p = m x 1.75 = 0.08 x 1.75 = 0.14 = 14%.
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systematic
market risk
+
+
non-systematic
non-market risk
non-diversifiable risk +
diversifiable risk
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eta
Security A
30%
0.60
Security B
10%
1.20
Security A has greater total risk (as it has a higher standard deviation) but less
systematic risk than Security B (because Security A has a lower eta).
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i = 0.5
i= 1.0
i= 1.5
the assets returns will increase by 50% more than the market for any
given increase in the market returns.
i = -1.5 the assets returns will decrease by 50% more than the market for
any given increase in the market returns.
The higher the degree of systematic risk (i), the higher the return expected by
investors.
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eta Coefficient
Amcor
1.11
BHP-Billiton
0.99
Boral
0.84
1.05
CSR
0.90
Mayne Nickless
0.80
NAB
1.09
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R i R f R M R f i
Market Risk Premium
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24
25
i ,m i m cov i ,m
i
2
m
m2
where:
i,m = correlation coefficient between the return on the Asset i and the market return;
i = standard deviation of returns on Asset i;
m = standard deviation of returns on the market;
m2 = variance of returns on the market.
Note: The eta of the market (m) is always equal to 1.
Portfolio eta
The eta of a portfolio (p) is equal to the weighted average eta of the individual assets
being held in the portfolio:
p = W1 1 + W2 2 + W3 3 + ... + W n n
BAFI1008 Business Finance
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R i R f ( RM R f ) i
R x 0.05 (0.10 0.05)0.8 0.09 9%
R y 0.05 (0.10 0.05)1.2 0.11 11%
R z 0.05 (0.10 0.05)1.8 0.14 14%
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SML
% R
14
RM
11
10
9
5
Z FZ
FY
X
FX
2
1.
0
1.
0.
8
1.8
M
BAFI1008 Business Finance
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Technical Analysis: Also known as Charting, is the study of historical chart patterns and trends of publicly traded
stocks using tools such as bar or candlestick charts and trading volumes to determine the future behaviour of a stock.
Much of this practice involves discovering the overall trend line of a stock's movement.
*2
*1 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/weakform.asp, 19/09/13.
*2
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/technical-analysis-of-stocks-and-trends.asp, 19/09/13.
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http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/strongform.aspardless of the amount of research or information investors have access to., 19/09/13.
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2.
3.
4.
The willingness of all investors to accept that their returns or losses will be exactly identical to all other market
participants. It is hard to imagine even one of these criteria of market efficiency ever being met.
*1
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/04/022004.asp, 19/09/13.
*2
Warren Buffet: Known as "the Oracle of Omaha", Buffett is Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and arguably the greatest investor of all time. His wealth fluctuates with the
performance of the market but as of 2008 his net worth was estimated at $62 billion, making him the richest man in the world. Buffett is a value investor. His company Berkshire
Hathaway is basically a holding company for his investments. Major holdings he has had at some point include Coca-Cola, American Express and Gillette. Critics predicted an end
to his success when his conservative investing style meant missing out on the dotcom bull market. Of course, he had the last laugh after the dotcom crash because, once again,
Buffett's time tested strategy proved successful. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/warrenbuffet.asp, 19/09/13.
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*1 For those interested in learning more about the EMH and empirical evidence on its validity the
Peirson et. al textbook has a good summary (note: current (prescribed text) edition is Ed. 11).
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