The Assessment Task

This assignment focuses on capital market efficiency, modern portfolio theory and the asset pricing models. There are two parts of this assignment.

a)   The first part aims to provide an assessment of the history, structure and efficiency of  the stock market in the assigned country (please see the data file for country name). In order to answer this part, you should explore factors like market history and evolution, breadth of the market (number of companies, IPOs, listing history, market capitalisation), stock market and macroeconomy (market capitalisation/GDP, market     capitalisation/credit to the private sector), integration with regional and global markets (cross-listings, cross-border M&As), financialisaton and liquidity (bid-ask spread, trading volume, value and pattern), etc. The purpose of this part is to explore the link between market efficiency and availability of capital to finance corporate projects.

b)   In the second part, use stock price data on select companies from the same country (please see the data file) and implement CAPM to build high, medium and low risk    portfolios. The purpose of this part is to evaluate applications of CAPM in portfolio   development, diversification and rebalancing.

With a limit of 1,600 words your essay should cover the following:

1)   An introductory background on the topic, that is, market efficiency and importance of and  asset  pricing  models  in  investment  analyses.  Please  review  and  cite  relevant literature on the topic.      (10 marks)

2)   A critical note on the stock market of the country assigned. This part should cover factors mentioned above and form a view about pricing and operational efficiency of the market with a view to understand capacity of the market in providing necessary finance to the corporate sector.          (40 marks)

3)   Implementation of CAPM and critical analysis of the findings from the empirical exercise. (40 marks)

4)   Conclusions drawn from your qualitative and quantitative assessments implications for corporations looking for finance to fund their projects.                   (10 marks)

More information will be available in our face-to-face workshop sessions. We will start working on the assignment from the first week and make incremental progress as we cover the syllabus.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Your grade will depend on how well you meet these learning outcomes in the way relevant for this assessment. Please see the rubrics on the final page of this document to understand the  criteria against which you will be assessed.

Assessment Support

Specific support sessions for this assessment will be provided by the module team and notified through NILE. You can also access individual support and guidance for your assessments from Library and Learning Services. Visit theSkills Hubto access this support and to discover the online support also available for assessments and academic skills.

Academic Integrity and Misconduct

Unless this is a group assessment, the work you produce must be your own, with work taken from any other source properly referenced and attributed. This means that it is an infringement of academic integrity and, therefore, academic misconduct to ask someone else to carry out all or some of the work for you, whether paid or unpaid, or to use the work of another student whether current or previously submitted.

For further guidance on what constitutes plagiarism, contract cheating or collusion, or any other infringement  of  academic  integrity,  please  read  the  University’s Academic  Integrity  and Misconduct Policy. Other useful resources to help with understanding academic integrity are available fromUNPAC  - the University of Northampton’s Plagiarism Avoidance Course.

N. B. The penalties for academic misconduct are severe and include failing the assessment, failing the module and even expulsion from the university.

Assessment Submission

To submit your work, please go to the ‘Assessment and Submission’ area on the NILE site and use the relevant submission point to upload the assignment deliverable. The deadline for this is 11.59pm (UK local time) on the date of submission. Please note that essays and text-based  reports should be submitted as word documents and not PDFs or Mac files.

Written work submitted to TURNITIN will be subject to anti-plagiarism detection software. Turnitin checks student work for possible textual matches against internet available resources and its own proprietary database.

When you upload your work correctly to TURNITIN you will receive a receipt which is your record and proof of submission. If your assessment is not submitted to TURNITIN, rather than a receipt, you will see a green banner at the top of the screen that denotes successful submission.

N. B Work emailed directly to your tutor will not be marked.

Late submission of work

For first sits, if an item of assessment is submitted late and an extension has not been granted, the following will apply:

•       Within one week of the original deadline – work will be marked and returned with full feedback and awarded a maximum bare pass grade.

•       More than one week from original deadline – grade achievable LG (L indicating late).

For resits there are no allowances for work submitted late and it will be treated as a non- submission.

Please see theAssessment and Feedback Policyfor full information on the processes related to assessment, grading and feedback, including anonymous grading. You will also find Guidance on grades and resit opportunities from the main University website. Also explained there are the meanings of the various G grades at the bottom of the grading scale including   LG mentioned above.

Extensions

The University of Northampton’s general policy about extensions is to be supportive of students who have genuine difficulties in meeting an assessment deadline. It is not intended for use where pressures of work could have reasonably been anticipated.

For full details please refer to theExtensions Policy. Extensions are only available for first sits – they are not available for resits.

Mitigating Circumstances

For full guidance on Mitigating circumstances please go toMitigating Circumstanceswhere you will find information on the policy as well as guidance and the form for making an application. Please also seeExtensions & Mitigating Circumstances guide 22_23that compares your options.

Please note, however, that an application to defer an assessment on the grounds of mitigating circumstances should normally be made in advance of the submission deadline or examination date.

Feedback and Grades

These can be accessed through clicking on the“Gradebook”on NILE. Feedback will be provided by a rubric with summary comments.