HA1022 Principles of Financial Markets T1 2012
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HOLMES INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF
HIGHER EDUCATION
HA1022 Principles of Financial Markets
Trimester 1 / 2012
ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY
Work must be carried out in groups of 4 people.
The objective of this assignment is to assess the investment conditions in the Australian economy form Top
Down Fundamental Analysis.
Students should proceed to the Reserve Bank Website:
http://www.rba.gov.au/chart-pack/
From here you can down load graphs of key economic indicators. Then using these graphs analyse the recent
history of the Australian stock market and form a prediction as to the investment conditions in the current
Australian stock market.
The indicators must include the following:
World Economy
o GDP Growth World
Australian GDP Growth and Inflation
o Australian GDP Growth
o Consumer Price Inflation
Interest Rates
o Australian Bond Yields
Exchange Rates, Australian Dollar vs:
o US Dollar, Euro and Yen
You should be looking at these indicators and comparing them to what happened to the stock market shortly
after. In your analysis include a definition and/or background information on each indicator that you are
analysing.
At the end of your report state your conclusion as to whether or not your analysis shows that current
investment conditions in the Australian stock market are favourable.
Group Report Required:
Each group should prepare a report of no more than 10 pages outlining the above analysis and the selection of
the resulting portfolio. Marks will be given for content not for length. Anything over 10 pages will not be
marked.
Resources available
You should use the RBA website; this will give you easy access to graphs and reports on the Australian and
world economies. You may also access additional information via the ‘Australian Financial Review’ newspaper
or website, finance.yahoo.com; finance.google.com; Bloomberg.com; ft.com, www.asx.com.au,
www.afr.com.au.
HA1022 Assessment Case Study Trimester 1 2012
Undergraduate Program HA1022 Principles of Financial Markets
2
Notes:
1. Marks will be rewarded for in-depth analysis.
2. A good place to start would be re-reading Principals 4 investing in equity and chapter 7 of the
textbook.
3. Write all group members names on the report.
4. All groups must submit their report via safe assign; only one submission per group is required.
5. The report is due on Friday 5pm week 10.
6. When writing the report, imagine that your audience are people that know nothing about finance or
the financial markets. At each stage you will need to carefully explain what do are analysing and why.
Do not think that just because your lecturer will know what this indicator means that you do not have
to define it.
Please be aware of PLAGERISM and COPYRIGHT rules.
Do NOT just include in your report pages of printouts from the RBA website or you will receive
ZERO marks.
You must reference, see the guide in the Additional Readings folder on Blackboard.
Assignment Marking Guide
Introduction
Introduction (1 mark)
Overview of the Australian economy (1 mark)
Fundamental Analysis
Top down analysis
o Data gathering and presentation (6 marks)
o Analysis (10 marks)
Conclusion
Is the Australian share market good to invest in currently?
Why; this must be related back to the analysis and explanation! (2 marks)
Notes:
60% of the marks come from the analysis that the group must perform. If there is just
secondary data in graphs, the assignment can only achieve 30% at most.
The assignment needs to read as if it is one person’s work. Marks will be deducted if the
assignment is not coherent.
Even though there are not marks allocated for references; not including any will result in a
mark of zero.