Question 143 bond pricing, zero coupon bond, term structure of interest rates, forward interest rate
An Australian company just issued two bonds:
- A 6-month zero coupon bond at a yield of 6% pa, and
- A 12 month zero coupon bond at a yield of 7% pa.
What is the company's forward rate from 6 to 12 months? Give your answer as an APR compounding every 6 months, which is how the above bond yields are quoted.
Question 247 cross currency interest rate parity, no explanation
In the so called 'Swiss Loans Affair' of the 1980's, Australian banks offered loans denominated in Swiss Francs to Australian farmers at interest rates as low as 4% pa. This was far lower than interest rates on Australian Dollar loans which were above 10% due to very high inflation in Australia at the time.
In the late-1980's there was a large depreciation in the Australian Dollar. The Australian Dollar nearly halved in value against the Swiss Franc. Many Australian farmers went bankrupt since they couldn't afford the interest payments on the Swiss Franc loans because the Australian Dollar value of those payments nearly doubled. The farmers accused the banks of promoting Swiss Franc loans without making them aware of the risks.
What fundamental principal of finance did the Australian farmers (and the bankers) fail to understand?
Your friend just bought a house for $1,000,000. He financed it using a $900,000 mortgage loan and a deposit of $100,000.
In the context of residential housing and mortgages, the 'equity' or 'net wealth' tied up in a house is the value of the house less the value of the mortgage loan. Assuming that your friend's only asset is his house, his net wealth is $100,000.
If house prices suddenly fall by 15%, what would be your friend's percentage change in net wealth?
Assume that:
- No income (rent) was received from the house during the short time over which house prices fell.
- Your friend will not declare bankruptcy, he will always pay off his debts.
Question 319 foreign exchange rate, monetary policy, American and European terms
Investors expect the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep the policy rate steady at their next meeting.
Then unexpectedly, the RBA announce that they will increase the policy rate by 25 basis points due to fears that the economy is growing too fast and that inflation will be above their target rate of 2 to 3 per cent.
What do you expect to happen to Australia's exchange rate in the short term? The Australian dollar is likely to:
Below are some statements about loans and bonds. The first descriptive sentence is correct. But one of the second sentences about the loans' or bonds' prices is not correct. Which statement is NOT correct? Assume that interest rates are positive.
Note that coupons or interest payments are the periodic payments made throughout a bond or loan's life. The face or par value of a bond or loan is the amount paid at the end when the debt matures.
Read the following financial statements and calculate the firm's free cash flow over the 2014 financial year.
| UBar Corp | ||
| Income Statement for | ||
| year ending 30th June 2014 | ||
| $m | ||
| Sales | 293 | |
| COGS | 200 | |
| Rent expense | 15 | |
| Gas expense | 8 | |
| Depreciation | 10 | |
| EBIT | 60 | |
| Interest expense | 0 | |
| Taxable income | 60 | |
| Taxes | 18 | |
| Net income | 42 | |
| UBar Corp | ||
| Balance Sheet | ||
| as at 30th June | 2014 | 2013 |
| $m | $m | |
| Assets | ||
| Cash | 30 | 29 |
| Accounts receivable | 5 | 7 |
| Pre-paid rent expense | 1 | 0 |
| Inventory | 50 | 46 |
| PPE | 290 | 300 |
| Total assets | 376 | 382 |
| Liabilities | ||
| Trade payables | 20 | 18 |
| Accrued gas expense | 3 | 2 |
| Non-current liabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Contributed equity | 212 | 212 |
| Retained profits | 136 | 150 |
| Asset revaluation reserve | 5 | 0 |
| Total L and OE | 376 | 382 |
Note: all figures are given in millions of dollars ($m).
The firm's free cash flow over the 2014 financial year was:
Alice, Bob, Chris and Delta are traders in the futures market. The following trades occur over a single day in a newly-opened equity index future that matures in one year which the exchange just made available.
1. Alice buys a future from Bob.
2. Chris buys a future from Delta.
3. Delta buys a future from Alice.
These were the only trades made in this equity index future. What was the trading volume and what is the open interest?
The 'time value of money' is most closely related to which of the following concepts?
A 4.5% fixed coupon Australian Government bond was issued at par in mid-April 2009. Coupons are paid semi-annually in arrears in mid-April and mid-October each year. The face value is $1,000. The bond will mature in mid-April 2020, so the bond had an original tenor of 11 years.
Today is mid-September 2015 and similar bonds now yield 1.9% pa.
What is the bond's new price? Note: there are 10 semi-annual coupon payments remaining from now (mid-September 2015) until maturity (mid-April 2020); both yields are given as APR's compounding semi-annually; assume that the yield curve was flat before the change in yields, and remained flat afterwards as well.
Question 778 CML, systematic and idiosyncratic risk, portfolio risk, CAPM
The capital market line (CML) is shown in the graph below. The total standard deviation is denoted by σ and the expected return is μ. Assume that markets are efficient so all assets are fairly priced.
Which of the below statements is NOT correct?