This assignment is worth 20% towards your final grade. This is strictly an individual (not group) assignment. There are two parts in this assignment. You must complete BOTH of them. Part A is worth 5 marks and Part B is worth 20 marks, for a total of 25 marks for the whole assignment. Your total mark is then scaled back to a mark out of 20% towards your final grade.

Insert your student name, student I.D. and page numbering on every page of your assignment using the “Header” You are allowed to resubmit your assignment if you have submitted the wrong document, provided that you resubmit before the stipulated due date and time. In such a case, you must save your pdf file as a new version. For example, if your wrongly submitted version is version 2 (i.e., “…FINM7405assign_v2.pdf”) and you want to resubmit, then save the new draft as version 3 (i.e., “…FINM7405assign_v3.pdf”). Only the latest submitted version will be marked. If you only have one version, then simply save it as “…FINM7405assign_v1.pdf”

Carefully read Sections 5.3 and 6.1 in the course profile for (i) penalty for plagiarism, (ii) applying for extension of submission, and (iii) penalty for late submission. With regard to point (iii), Section 5.3 in the course profile states that “Items (for which no extension has been granted) submitted after the due date and time, incur a late submission penalty. The penalty is at the rate of 5% of the total available marks …. for each calendar day (or part thereof) that the item is overdue. Assessment submitted more than 10 days after the due date will receive zero marks.”

When you submit your assignment online (see instruction above), you will be issued an official digital proof/receipt that looks similar to the one shown on next page. The official digital proof/receipt clearly states, among others, the submitted file name, as well as the time and date of submission. You must save this official DIGITAL PROOF/RECEIPT (your full digital receipt can be downloaded from the download button in your class assignment list in Turnitin or from the print/download button in the document viewer), and show it to me in the event of any disputes in due course (for example, in the event that you thought you have submitted your assignment online but I didn’t receive it). Only the official digital proof/receipt of online submission will be considered in the event of any disputes.

Successful completion of both the "Economic Indicators" and "Fixed Income" modules, with an average score above 70% Successful completion of both the "Economic Indicators" and "Fixed Income" modules, with an average score below 70% Successful completion of the "Fixed Income" module only, with a score above 70% Successful completion of the "Fixed Income" module only, with a score below 70% Successful completion of the "Economic Indicators" module only Partial completion of each module where a score cannot be calculated and shown OR no completion.

Strategy report. In this report, you need to explain the thinking behind the transactions that you plan to execute on 15 September 2009. Some of the things you may want to discuss include: the strategy and performance of the previous manager for the quarter ended 15 September; the state of the local and international economy in September 2009; a forecast for the QTC yield curve and the reasoning behind that forecast; desired positioning of the portfolio to take advantage of the forecast change to the yield curve; a list of proposed portfolio transactions; a forecast for the copper price and the Australian dollar and the reasoning behind that forecast; and a list of proposed hedge transactions, if any, and the reasoning behind them.

Strategy report 12 marks Marking criteria: A very high quality report with excellent structure, presentation and writing style (with no grammatical or spelling mistakes etc.), as well as logical, comprehensive and clear explanation of portfolio and hedging strategy. Portfolio and client cash flows 5 marks Marking criteria: Correct values with supporting calculations Deal slips 3 marks Marking criteria: Deal slips are totally consistent with the stated strategy and are correctly filled in, with neat and easy to read presentation.