This diploma thesis is focused on artificial intelligence and its application in financial markets. For the prediction values and trends of selected exchange rates are used artificial neural networks. Artificial neural network is created in Matlab. This solution is subsequently evaluated.

This thesis focuses on automated trading systems for foreign exchange markets. It describes theoretical background of financial markets, technical analysis approaches and theoretical knowledge about automated trading systems. The output of the thesis is set of two automated trading systems built for trading the most liquid currency pairs. The process of developing automated trading system as well as its practical start up in Spartacus Company Ltd. is documented in the form of project documentation. The project documentation captures choosing necessary hardware components, their installation and oricess of ensuring smooth operation, as well as the selection and installation of the necessary software resources. In the Adaptrade Builder enviroment there has been shown the process of developing strategies and consequently theirs characteristics, performance, as well as a graph showing the evolution of the account at the time. Selected portfolio strategy has been tested in the MetaTrader platform and in the end of the thesis is offered assessing achievements and draw an overall conclusion.

Over a long period of time, researchers have investigated the efficiency of financial markets. The widely accepted theory of the subject is the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which states that prices of financial assets are set efficiently. A common way to test this hypothesis is to analyze the returns generated by technical trading rules which uses historical prices in an attempt to predict future price development. This is also what this study aims to do. Using adjusted daily closing prices ranging over 2007 to 2019 for 5120 stocks listed on the U.S stock market, this study tests a momentum trading strategy called the stochastic oscillator in an attempt to beat a buy and hold strategy of the Russel 3000 stock market index. The stochastic oscillator is constructed in three different ways, the Fast%K, the Fast%D and the Slow%D, the difference being that a smoothing parameter is used in the Fast%D and Slow%D in an attempt to reduce the number of whiplashes or false trading signals. The mean returns of the technical trading strategies are tested against the mean returns of the buy and hold strategy using a non-parametric bootstrap methodology and also, the risk adjusted returns in terms of Sharpe Ratios are compared for the different strategies. The results find no significance difference between the mean returns of the buy and hold strategy and any of the technical trading strategies. Further, the buy and hold strategy delivers a higher risk adjusted return compared to the technical trading strategies, although, only by a small margin. Regarding the smoothing parameter applied to the strategies, it seems to fulfill its purpose by reducing the number of trades and slightly increasing the mean returns of the technical trading strategies. Finally, for deeper insight in the subject, a reading of "The efficiency of financial markets: A dual momentum trading strategy on the Swedish stock market" by Netzén Örn (2018) is recommended.

62 Legal instruments of client protection on financial markets Abstract The thesis deals with the protection of the client on the financial market. The issue is regulated by a lot of legislation, especially European legislation. This work therefore brings a comprehensive overview of the most important ones, which also illustrates the increased interest of the legislator in this issue in recent years and the turnover of interest towards client protection. Describing is also part dealing with entities that act to protect the client in the financial markets. These descriptive parts are at work in particular to better understand the adoption of financial market regulations and also to define the functions of individual entities. It also deals with individual legal instruments of client protection on the financial market. Emphasis is placed on the legal instruments referred to in the Act on Undertaking on the Capital Market relating to investment firms, with the exception of the institute of prior consent, which is illustrated on a banking license. Legal instruments of client protection on the financial market are subjected to a critical analysis of the ratio of the degree of client protection on the financial market and the costs associated with compliance of these instruments by investment firms. Thematically...

In this study, the authors examined the relationship between crude oil price and the Swedish and Norwegian stock markets. Using linear regression models the authors found that the Swedish stock market and Norwegian stock market both have a positive relation with crude oil price. This supports the hypothesis that crude oil price has a positive impact on Norwegian stock market, since Norway is an oil exporting country. However, this result contradicts a hypothesis of a negative relationship for an oil importing country like Sweden. The authors also looked into the relationship between exchange rates (Swedish krona and Norwegian krone) and oil price, which reveals that oil price is significantly negatively correlated with Swedish krona and Norwegian Krone. The study contributes with evidence from underexplored regions of the world.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming smarter and faster and firms all over the world have entered a race to reap the benefits, investing in AI projects at an increasing rate. The benefits of AI are seemingly plenty and the value of AI in various business processes is often emphasized. However, seldom is the actual value of AI discussed in quantitative terms. Among the first to do so, this study finds a positive value of AI investments. Based on 76 announcements from 43 sample firms in the Nordic markets, findings show a significant positive impact of AI announcements on abnormal returns, with a mean of 0.91% for the event day and 1.62% for the event window of +/- one day. Further, this is to the best of our knowledge the first study ever to investigate abnormalities in stock price volatility after the announcements of AI investments. The study shows a cumulative abnormal volatility of 6.47 for the event window +/- ten days. The findings in this study indicate that AI holds significant value and that AI investments cause increased stock market risk as measured by abnormal volatility for the announcing firms.

This paper examines the efficiency of the Swedish stock market, specifically the Large cap list of the Stockholm stock exchange. This is achieved by implementing the relative strength method of investing during the decade of 2010-2020 and evaluate the results in contrast to the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The relative strength method applied in this paper is the similar strategy that Jagadeesh & Titman (1993) utilized. In short, the strategy is based on buying the historically best performing stocks whilst selling short the previous worst performers. Additionally, the risks associated with the method were examined with the risk measurements of the Jensen Alpha and the Modigliani risk-adjusted performance. The results indicate that the relative strength method is unable to consistently generate above-market returns, so that the study is unable to reject the Efficient Market Hypothesis. In addition, the relative strength method is unable to justify the risks associated.

Can the law of the natural distribution of random numbers expose malice in financial markets? This thesis aims to analyze the indices S&P 500 and STOXX 600, in an effort to identify days in which behavior in the market was the result of financial manipulation or non normal market movements. What was discovered by extending a previous study [10], was that we could accurately identify many days in which the market crashed or was affected by malpractice similar to the events in the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

Sustainability has started to play a greater role on the financial market and a larger number of investors are searching for financial products that contribute to the environment and the sustainable development. However, the numerous definitions of sustainable investments and green funds make the investment decision-making process difficult for investors and allow companies to “greenwash” their products. In order to facilitate the investment process for investors and at the same time contribute to sustainable development, the EU adopted the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) on 10 March 2021 as part of the Union’s sustainable finance strategy. The SFDR introduces a set of harmonized rules for financial market participants regarding their integration of sustainability-related aspects in their investment process, including different product classification levels, such as “light green” and “dark green”. Apart from the fact that the regulation means enhanced transparency, it is possible that the new product classifications will have an impact on the definition of sustainable funds and the environmental, social, governmental (ESG) investment strategies currently used by financial market participants. Additionally, the appropriateness of the new product classes in view of the aims of the SFDR could be discussed. The purpose of this thesis has been to examine the product specific disclosures of the SFDR and their implications on funds integrating sustainability, by using the legal dogmatic methodology and the EU teleological methodology. In order to be classified as an art. 8, or light green, it seems as if it is not enough for a fund to simply integrate ESG aspects into the investment process, rather the fund has to apply several investment strategies that consider ESG. For funds wishing to be considered as an art. 9, or dark green, it appears as if impact investing or sustainability themed investing could be two applicable approaches. Moreover, the sustainable investment-definition provided by the regulation contains explicit criteria, thus making it easier for investors to understand sustainable investments. Furthermore, the increased regulation and reporting requirements might contribute to less greenwashing, which in turn will benefit the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. However, while the product specific disclosures appear to be aligned with the objectives of the SFDR, there are several uncertainties related to the definitions and classifications that prevent the regulation from fully achieving its goals. / Hållbarhet har kommit att spela en allt större roll på finansmarknaden och allt fler investerare efterfrågar nu finansiella produkter som bidrar till miljön och den hållbara utvecklingen. Men de många definitioner som finns gällande hållbara investeringar och gröna fonder försvårar beslutsprocessen för investerare samt gör det möjligt för företag att använda sig utav ”greenwashing”. För att underlätta investeringsprocessen för investerare och även bidra till den hållbara utvecklingen antog EU den s.k. Förordning om hållbarhetsrelaterade upplysningar som ska lämnas inom den finansiella tjänstesektorn (SFDR) den 10:e mars 2021, vilken utgör en del av Unionens strategi för en hållbarare finansmarknad. SFDR innehåller harmoniserade regler för finansmarknadsaktörer gällande integreringen av hållbarhetsaspekter i investeringsprocessen, inklusive olika produktklassificeringar, såsom ”ljusgröna” och ”mörkgröna” produkter. Förutom att den nya regleringen innebär ökad transparens är det möjligt att de nya produktklassificeringarna kommer att ha en inverkan på definitionen av hållbara fonder samt de investeringsstrategier finansmarknadsaktörer i dagsläget använder sig av för att integrera hållbarhet. Utöver detta kan även produktklassificeringarnas lämplighet diskuteras mot bakgrund av förordningens ändamål. Syftet med detta arbete har varit att undersöka de produktspecifika upplysningskraven i förordningen och dessas inverkan på fonder som beaktar hållbarhetsaspekter, med hjälp av den rättsdogmatiska metoden samt den EU-rättsliga teleologiska metoden. För att klassas som en art. 8, eller ljusgrön fond, förefaller det som att det inte är tillräckligt för en fond att enbart integrera hållbarhet i investeringsprocessen utan snarare måste fonden använda sig utav flera olika hållbarhetsstrategier. För fonder som önskar att bli klassificerade som en art. 9, eller mörkgröna, verkar det istället som att s.k. ”impact” fonder eller tematiska fonder med hållbarhetsfokus är typiska exempel. Utöver detta innehåller förordningen en definition med uttryckliga kriterier gällande vad som är en hållbar investering, vilket underlättar investerares förståelse för hållbara investeringar. Dessutom kan den ökade regleringen och rapporteringskraven bidra till mindre ”greenwashing”, vilket i sin tur gynnar FN:s globala hållbarhetsmål och Parisavtalet. Men samtidigt som produktklassificeringarna tycks vara i linje med SFDR:s mål innehåller både definitionerna och klassificeringarna ett flertal oklarheter som hindrar förordningen från att helt uppnå sina mål.

Masters of Commerce / This paper uses 3 - month and 12 - month market Negotiable Certificates of ( I . Deposit (NCO) rates to test whether greater transparency by the South African Reserve Bank has reduced expectational errors in the money markets. It does so by comparing the relative differences (between the implied forward rates-as indicators of expected future spot rates-and the actual 'future'spot rates) between the period before greater transparency and the period after greater transparency. Empirical evidence for the sample period indicates that greater ransparency by the South African Reserve Bank co-incided with reduced expectational errors in the money markets. Thus, the implied forward rates after greater transparency may well have been better predictors of future spot rates than before greater transparency, although causality has not been proved.