<p>Background: The global capital markets have enlarged investment opportunities and thus also the sources of funds for companies which increasingly face global markets for their services and products. Huge capital movements show that investors are constantly searching ways to minimise risk and maximise returns. In the light of the substantial growth of assets in institutional funds, an important question for international finance is the degree to which institutional investors have diversified their portfolios internationally. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the international diversification of portfolio investments of institutional investors in Japan, the US and the UK and deepen into international diversification in portfolios of Japanese institutional investors. </p><p>Demarcations: Institutional investors can use their power directly in companies or indirectly through capital markets. In this thesis, I will not discuss corporate governance issues. Nor is it an aim of this thesis to try to find the optimal portfolio or the best performing portfolio. </p><p>Method: Secondary data in this study are based on several sources from academic literature as well as from public data and statistics. Primary data for this study include interviews and background discussions as well as my own calculations. Interviews were made in order to obtain more information and make a proper comparison. The interviews were held in Tokyo, Japan. </p><p>Conclusions: International diversification of portfolio investment of institutional investors tend to differ more between countries where the investors are based than between the type of investor in different countries. Institutional investors in UK tend to diversify their investments more internationally compared to Japanese and US counterparts. Japanese institutional investors tend to have very similar international diversification strategies. This can be explained by cultural aspects which traditionally have promoted risk averse and domestic investment strategies. Furthermore, there are reasons which make investment strategies more country contingent. Currency risk, level of knowledge and domestic investment opportunities have critical impact on international investments.</p>

Background: The global capital markets have enlarged investment opportunities and thus also the sources of funds for companies which increasingly face global markets for their services and products. Huge capital movements show that investors are constantly searching ways to minimise risk and maximise returns. In the light of the substantial growth of assets in institutional funds, an important question for international finance is the degree to which institutional investors have diversified their portfolios internationally. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the international diversification of portfolio investments of institutional investors in Japan, the US and the UK and deepen into international diversification in portfolios of Japanese institutional investors. Demarcations: Institutional investors can use their power directly in companies or indirectly through capital markets. In this thesis, I will not discuss corporate governance issues. Nor is it an aim of this thesis to try to find the optimal portfolio or the best performing portfolio. Method: Secondary data in this study are based on several sources from academic literature as well as from public data and statistics. Primary data for this study include interviews and background discussions as well as my own calculations. Interviews were made in order to obtain more information and make a proper comparison. The interviews were held in Tokyo, Japan. Conclusions: International diversification of portfolio investment of institutional investors tend to differ more between countries where the investors are based than between the type of investor in different countries. Institutional investors in UK tend to diversify their investments more internationally compared to Japanese and US counterparts. Japanese institutional investors tend to have very similar international diversification strategies. This can be explained by cultural aspects which traditionally have promoted risk averse and domestic investment strategies. Furthermore, there are reasons which make investment strategies more country contingent. Currency risk, level of knowledge and domestic investment opportunities have critical impact on international investments.

This master thesis examines the role of foreign investors in the Istanbul Stock Exchange in three dimensions: differences among sectors and subsectors in terms of foreign trading activity, the effect of November 2000 &amp / #8211 / February 2001 crisis on returns and foreign trading activity, and the relationship between return and foreign trading activity. Data used in this thesis covers 72 months between January 1997 and December 2002. Significant differences among sectors and subsectors in terms of foreign trading activity is found. On the other hand, there is no statistically significant difference in the mean values and variances of returns on the overall market, national sector and most subsector indices before and after the crisis period of November 2000 &amp / #8211 / February 2001. However, foreign trading activity has decreased in interest-sensitive and cyclical industries and increased in defensive industries during the recession that follows the crisis. The relationship between return and net foreign trading volume relative to the total trading volume is statistically significant for the overall market and national sectors. Furthermore, we find that the effect of net foreign trading volume relative to the total trading volume on return is larger for stocks included in the ISE-30 index. The mean returns on stocks associated with negative NFV and positive NFV are statistically significantly different from each other. We further find that it is more likely to observe positive (negative) return on a stock when net foreign trading volume in that stock is positive (negative).

This diploma thesis focuses on the design of three portfolio variants for a fund of qualified investors operating in the Czech Republic, which focuses on investing in shares of Exchange Traded Funds investing in precious metals.

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004 / This paper analyses the effect of International capital flows and their behavior for emergent countries, focused in Brazilian financiai market. It considers that capital flows had dramatically increased, however their impact, proposals on changes in international market and capital controls has not been clear. Considering capital flows In comparison to portfolio investments and to direct investments, this paper, also aims to discuss and highlight questions whether the concepts that capital flows generally associated to portfolio investments are frequently connected with incidence of crises meanwhile the second have been associated with growth in some countries. / Esta dissertação procura avaliar, dentro de um contexto de economia globalizada, o comportamento dos fluxos de capitais estrangeiros para investimentos nas economias emergentes, com foco no Brasil e nos investimentos em portfólio. Considera que os fluxos desses capitais têm crescido, dramaticamente, nos últimos anos e que as propostas de reformulações do sistema financeiro internacional e a adoção de controles desses capitais não estão totalmente claras, merecendo maiores estudos. Por meio de comparação entre os fluxos para investimentos em portfólio e os direcionados para investimentos diretos, o texto, aborda e questiona também, conceitos que, geralmente, relacionam esses capitais à incidência de crises, enquanto que os fluxos de capitais para investimentos diretos são associados ao crescimento de alguns países.