Treasury bonds currently have a return of 5% pa. A stock has a beta of 0.5 and the market return is 10% pa. What is the expected return of the stock?
In these tough economic times, central banks around the world have cut interest rates so low that they are practically zero. In some countries, government bond yields are also very close to zero.
A three year government bond with a face value of $100 and a coupon rate of 2% pa paid semi-annually was just issued at a yield of 0%. What is the price of the bond?
A prospective home buyer can afford to pay $2,000 per month in mortgage loan repayments. The central bank recently lowered its policy rate by 0.25%, and residential home lenders cut their mortgage loan rates from 4.74% to 4.49%.
How much more can the prospective home buyer borrow now that interest rates are 4.49% rather than 4.74%? Give your answer as a proportional increase over the original amount he could borrow (##V_\text{before}##), so:
###\text{Proportional increase} = \frac{V_\text{after}-V_\text{before}}{V_\text{before}} ###Assume that:
- Interest rates are expected to be constant over the life of the loan.
- Loans are interest-only and have a life of 30 years.
- Mortgage loan payments are made every month in arrears and all interest rates are given as annualised percentage rates compounding per month.
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. Bob buys a future from Chris.
These were the only trades made in this equity index future. What was the trading volume and what is the open interest?
Mr Blue, Miss Red and Mrs Green are people with different utility functions. Which of the statements about the 3 utility functions is NOT correct?
One year ago you bought a $1,000,000 house partly funded using a mortgage loan. The loan size was $800,000 and the other $200,000 was your wealth or 'equity' in the house asset.
The interest rate on the home loan was 4% pa.
Over the year, the house produced a net rental yield of 2% pa and a capital gain of 2.5% pa.
Assuming that all cash flows (interest payments and net rental payments) were paid and received at the end of the year, and all rates are given as effective annual rates, what was the total return on your wealth over the past year?
Hint: Remember that wealth in this context is your equity (E) in the house asset (V = D+E) which is funded by the loan (D) and your deposit or equity (E).
A 12 month European-style call option with a strike price of $11 is written on a dividend paying stock currently trading at $10. The dividend is paid annually and the next dividend is expected to be $0.40, paid in 9 months. The risk-free interest rate is 5% pa continuously compounded and the standard deviation of the stock’s continuously compounded returns is 30 percentage points pa. The stock's continuously compounded returns are normally distributed. Using the Black-Scholes-Merton option valuation model, determine which of the following statements is NOT correct.
Calculate Australia’s GDP over the 2016 calendar year using the below table:
| Australian Gross Domestic Product Components | ||||
| A$ billion, 2016 Calendar Year from 1 Jan 2016 to 31 Dec 2016 inclusive | ||||
| Consumption | Investment | Government spending | Exports | Imports |
| 971 | 421 | 320 | 328 | 344 |
Source: ABS 5206.0 Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. Table 3. Expenditure on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Current prices.
Over the 2016 calendar year, Australia’s GDP was:
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.