Fight Finance

Question 48  IRR, NPV, bond pricing, premium par and discount bonds, market efficiency

The theory of fixed interest bond pricing is an application of the theory of Net Present Value (NPV). Also, a 'fairly priced' asset is not over- or under-priced. Buying or selling a fairly priced asset has an NPV of zero.

Considering this, which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The internal rate of return (IRR) of buying a fairly priced bond is equal to the bond's yield.

(b) The Present Value of a fairly priced bond's coupons and face value is equal to its price.

(c) If a fairly priced bond's required return rises, its price will fall.

(d) Fairly priced premium bonds' yields are less than their coupon rates, prices are more than their face values, and the NPV of buying them is therefore positive.

(e) The NPV of buying a fairly priced bond is zero.

Question 142  DDM, income and capital returns

When using the dividend discount model to price a stock:

### p_{0} = \frac{d_1}{r - g} ###

The growth rate of dividends (g):

(a) Is the stock's required return.

(b) Is the stock's expected total return.

(c) Is the stock's expected dividend return.

(d) Is the stock's expected real yield.

(e) Should be less than the expected GDP growth rate of the country where the company does business.

Question 282  expected and historical returns, income and capital returns

You're the boss of an investment bank's equities research team. Your five analysts are each trying to find the expected total return over the next year of shares in a mining company. The mining firm:

• Is regarded as a mature company since it's quite stable in size and was floated around 30 years ago. It is not a high-growth company;
• Share price is very sensitive to changes in the price of the market portfolio, economic growth, the exchange rate and commodities prices. Due to this, its standard deviation of total returns is much higher than that of the market index;
• Experienced tough times in the last 10 years due to unexpected falls in commodity prices.
• Shares are traded in an active liquid market.

Your team of analysts present their findings, and everyone has different views. While there's no definitive true answer, whose calculation of the expected total return is the most plausible? Assume that:

• The analysts' source data is correct and true, but their inferences might be wrong;
• All returns and yields are given as effective annual nominal rates.

(a) Alice says 5% pa since she calculated that this was the average total yield on government bonds over the last 10 years. She says that this is also the expected total yield implied by current prices on one year government bonds.

(b) Bob says 4% pa since he calculated that this was the average total return on the mining stock over the last 10 years.

(c) Cate says 3% pa since she calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share price over the last 10 years.

(d) Dave says 6% pa since he calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share market price index (not the accumulation index) over the last 10 years.

(e) Eve says 15% pa since she calculated that this was the discount rate implied by the dividend discount model using the current share price, forecast dividend in one year and a 3% growth rate in dividends thereafter, which is the expected long term inflation rate.

Question 575  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows

You expect a nominal payment of $100 in 5 years. The real discount rate is 10% pa and the inflation rate is 3% pa. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The nominal cash flow of $100 in 5 years is equivalent to a real cash flow of $86.2609 in 5 years. This means that $86.2609 will buy the same amount of goods and services now as $100 will buy in 5 years.

(b) The real discount rate of 10% pa is equivalent to a nominal discount rate of 13.3333% pa.

(c) The nominal price of goods and services will increase by 3% every year.

(d) The real price of goods and services will increase by 3% every year.

(e) The present value of your payment will increase by the nominal discount rate every year.

Question 608  debt terminology

You deposit cash into your bank account. Have you or debt?

Question 765  bond pricing, no explanation

An investor bought a 5 year government bond with a 2% pa coupon rate at par. Coupons are paid semi-annually. The face value is $100.

Calculate the bond's new price 8 months later after yields have increased to 3% pa. Note that 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.

(a) $95.345378

(b) $95.819741

(c) $96.138082

(d) $96.296464

(e) $96.775559

Question 830  option, delta, gamma, no explanation

Below are some statements about European-style options on non-dividend paying stocks. Assume that the risk free rate is always positive. Which of these statements is NOT correct?

(a) A long call option always has a positive Delta.

(b) A long put option always has a negative Delta.

(c) A long stock always has a Delta of one.

(d) A long call option always has a positive Gamma.

(e) A long stock always has a Gamma of one.

Question 865  option, Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing

A one year European-style call option has a strike price of $4.

The option's underlying stock currently trades at $5, pays no dividends and its standard deviation of continuously compounded returns is 47% pa.

The risk-free interest rate is 10% pa continuously compounded.

Use the Black-Scholes-Merton formula to calculate the option price. The call option price now is:

(a) $0.287263739

(b) $0.398141032

(c) $1.142227853

(d) $1.667914067

(e) $2.193600281

Question 902  Basel accord

Below is a table of the 'Risk-weights for residential mortgages' as shown in APRA Basel 3 Prudential Standard APS 112 Capital Adequacy: Standardised Approach to Credit Risk January 2013.

LVR (%)	Standard eligible mortgages		Non-standard eligible mortgages
	Risk-weight (no mortgage insurance) %	Risk-weight (with at least 40% of the mortgage insured by an acceptable LMI) %	Risk-weight (no mortgage insurance) %	Risk-weight (with at least 40% of the mortgage insured by an acceptable LMI) %
0 – 60	35	35	50	35
60.01 – 80	35	35	75	50
80.01 – 90	50	35	100	75
90.01 – 100	75	50	100	75
> 100.01	100	75	100	100

A bank is considering granting a home loan to a man to buy a house worth $1.25 million using his own funds and the loan. The loan would be standard with no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) and an LVR of 80%.

What is the minimum regulatory capital that the bank requires to grant the home loan under the Basel 3 Accord? Ignore the capital conservation buffer.

(a) $20,000

(b) $28,000

(c) $35,000

(d) $40,000

(e) $50,000

Question 954  option, at the money option

If a put option is at-the-money, then the spot price (##S_0##) is than, than or to the put option's strike price (##K_T##)?