Investment and Securities Markets (BS0098)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : SBE-P-BS0098

This course is designed to introduce you to the main characteristics and roles of the financial markets, investment institutions and market intermediaries, help you become a better investor and make you more marketable to investment houses and financial employers more generally. It seeks to develop your knowledge and understanding of different asset classes and investment strategies. The main topics are portfolio theory, equity valuation, investment analysis, stock market anomalies, fund management and hedge funds and behavioural finance and investor psychology. The course is international in orientation and presented both from the perspective of professional fund managers and other investment groups. By the end of the course you will have a better idea of how equity markets operate and how investment portfolios are managed, the roles and responsibilities of market participants and the issues of most current concern to them.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

? Pre-requisites : PGs Only

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Business Studies, (School of Business and Economics, Schedule H)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) 30 minutes per week for 9 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successfully completing this option students will:

• Understand what the characteristics of the main asset classes and investment vehicles are
• Have an understanding of the workings of the financial markets and be able to communicate effectively with practitioners
• Understand what market efficiency really means in practice and the implications for market professionals
• Recognise potential market anomalies and whether they are exploitable or not
• Understand how securities analysts and fund managers work and what is important to them
• Recognise the opportunities and threats associated with new alternative asset classes
• Be able to evaluate the potential contribution of the new discipline of behavioural finance to an understanding of both market and individual investor behaviour
• In summary, be better and more knowledgeable investors and have skills of direct relevance to potential employers in investment banks and the financial services sector more generally

Course members will be expected to apply what they are covering on the course to current events in the financial news. They will be required to contribute to discussion of case material and some credit will be given for such a contribution.