Volatility managing strategies have gained attention over the last few years due to theiralleged ability to increase portfolio return and mitigate risk. This thesis examines the performance and risk of a portfolio using such a strategy on the Swedish equity market. The strategy is dependent on the forecasting of volatility. Different volatility forecasting models are evaluated using different refitting intervals. The GARCH(1,1) model using a monthly refitting interval is found to be the most precise. When comparing it to the buy-and-hold portfolio, the results of the risk and return of the portfolio are ambiguous and the volatility managing strategy is only found to be beneficial when using a fixed volatility target when transaction costs are accounted for. Regarding distributional characteristics, the volatility managing strategy displays features of a lighter-tailed distribution in comparison to the buy-and-hold portfolio when using a dynamic volatility target. However, for the fixed target, the distributional characteristics are incoherent. Lastly, the volatility managing strategy is not found beneficial to the investor during a shorter period of high volatility. This thesis provides support for using a volatility managing strategy with a fixed volatility target for generating a higher return compared to the benchmark. However, it does not support conclusive evidence for obtaining a higher return without increasing the risk level of the investment. / Användningen av volatilitetshanterande strategier har fått ökad uppmärksamhet under de senaste åren. Därför undersöker detta arbete avkastningen och risken hos en portfölj som använder en sådan strategi på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Investeringsstrategin är baserad på prognosen av volatilitet. Olika modeller för volatilitetsprediktion utvärderas för olika tidsintervall för att hitta modellen med högst precision. Denna studie finner att en GARCH(1,1) modell som omanpassar sig månadsvis resulterar i den mest exakta prediktionen. Med hänsyn till risk och avkastning så är resultaten för volatilitetsstrategin tvetydiga i jämförelse med en köp-och-behåll strategi. Volatilitetsstrategin är endast fördelaktig när ett fast volatilitetsmål används då transaktionskostnader inkorporeras. Med avseende på fördelningsegenskaper, så visar en volatilitetsstrategi med ett rörligt volatilitetsmål på egenskaper hos en fördelning med lättare svansar, i jämförelse med köp-och-behåll portföljen. För det fasta volatilitetsmålet så är fördelningsegenskaperna inkoherenta. Volatilitetsstrategin är inte fördelaktig för investeraren under en kortare period med hög volatilitet. Detta examensarbete ger underlag för användandet av en volatilitetshanterande strategi med ett fast volatilitetsmål för att uppnå en högre avkastning i relation till referensportföljen. Det bevisar dock inte att en högre avkastning går att uppnå utan att öka risken hos portföljen.

Abstract:   The last decade currency carry trade has gained a lot of popularity because of their apparent profitability. It is a strategy that has been developed to exploit violations of the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity. In particular, an investor must take a short position in a low-yielding currency to fund a long position in a high-yielding currency. In this research, we tried to contribute in the previous literature for the currency carry trade and its characteristics by using a different approach. Most of the researches that have been conducted in this area concern the risk agents associated with this strategy. However, in our research we investigated the relationship between currency carry trade and two equity indexes, one from the European market (DAX) and one from the American (DJIA). In order to do that, we estimated the returns of the DAX and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) as well as the returns of a carry trade index created by the Deutsche Bank, the Deutsche Bank’s G10 Currency Future Harvest index. The returns were estimated for a time period of twenty years (1995-2014). More specific, we examined whether there is granger causality between the returns of carry trade and of DAX/DJIA, whether there is leverage effect on the returns of the same index and finally whether changes in the returns of one of those indexes can affect the subsequent volatility of the other two. For being able to do this examination, we used two different statistical models, the Vector Autoregression (VAR) and the EGARCH [1, 1] model.       The first empirical finding suggests that there is granger causal effect from the two equity markets to carry trade, however the carry trade granger cause only to DJIA index. The second finding indicates that there no leverage effect form the past returns to the future volatility for all the three indexes. Finally, the last finding suggests that the volatility process on the returns of one index cannot be determined by changes in the returns of the other two indexes. Keywords: Currency carry, uncovered interest rate parity, DAX, DJIA, G10 currency, granger causality, VAR, EGARCH[1,1]

本文主要探討匯率波動對台灣出口貿易的影響，實證重點在於匯率波動估計方法之不同，是否會對出口貿易產生不同的影響。樣本期間自1990年1月至2006年12月，共204筆月資料。匯率波動的估計模型包含移動平均變異數、GARCH模型、門檻GARCH模型(TGARCH)及指數型GARCH模型(EGARCH)，本研究先估計出匯率波動因子再進一步代入出口方程式中作估計，相較於國內其他文獻，本文考慮了匯率波動不對稱情形存在的可能性，同時也考慮了變數是否呈定態的問題。實證結果顯示，台幣貶值會造成比較大的匯率波動；利用TGARCH(1,2)作為匯率波動估計模型，結果顯示匯率波動增加會刺激台灣對美國和日本的出口量。

The day-of-the-week effect is a market anomaly that manifests as the cyclical behaviour of traders in the market. This market anomaly was first observed by M.F.M. Osborne (1959). The literature distinguishes between two types of cyclical effects in the market: the cyclical pattern of mean returns and the cyclical pattern of volatility in returns. This dissertation studies and reports on cyclical patterns in the South African market, seeking evidence of the existence of the day-of-the-week effect. In addition, the dissertation aims to investigate the implications of such an effect on hedge fund managers in South Africa. The phenomenon of cyclical volatility and mean returns patterns (day-of-the-week effect) in the South African All-share index returns are investigated by making use of four generalised heteroskedastic conditional autoregressive (GARCH) models. These were based on Nelson's (1991) Exponential GARCH (EGARCH) models. In order to account for the risk taken by investors in the market Engle et al's, (1987) 'in-Mean' (risk factor) effects were also incorporated into the model. To avoid the dummy variable trap, two different approaches were tested for viability in testing for the day-of- the-week effect. In the first approach, one day is omitted from the equation so as to avoid multi-colinearity in the model. The second approach allows for the restriction of the daily dummy variables where all the parameters of the daily dummy variables adds up to zero. This dissertation found evidence of a mean returns effect and a volatility effect (day-of-the- week effect) in South Africa's All-share index returns data (where Wednesdays have been omitted from the GARCH equations). This holds significant implications for hedge fund managers. as hedge funds are very sensitive to volatility patterns in the market, because of their leveraged trading activities. As a result of adverse price movements, hedge fund managers employ strict risk management processes and constantly rebalance their portfolios according to a mandate, to avoid incurring losses. This rebalancing typically involves the simultaneous opening of new positions and closing out of existing positions. Hedge fund managers run the risk of incurring losses should they rebalance their portfolios on days on which the volatility in market returns is high. This study proves the existence of the day-of-the-week effect in the South African market. These results are further confirmed by the evidence of the trading volumes of the JSE's All-share index data for the period of the study. The mean returns effect (high mean returns) and low volatility found on Thursdays, coincide with the evidence that trading volumes on the JSE on Thursdays are the highest of all the days of the week. The volatility effect on Fridays, (high volatility in returns) is similarly correlated with the evidence of the trading volumes found in the JSE's All-share index data for the period of the study. Accordingly. hedge fund managers would be advised to avoid rebalancing their portfolios on Fridays, which show evidence of high volatility patterns. Hedge fund managers are advised to rather rebalance their portfolios on Thursdays, which show evidence of high mean returns patterns, low volatility patterns and high liquidity. / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The volatility model approach to forecasting Value at Risk is complemented with modelling of Expected Shortfalls using an extreme value approach. Using three models from the GARCH family (GARCH, EGARCH and GJR-GARCH) and assuming two conditional distributions, normal Gaussian and Student t’s distribution, to make predictions of VaR, the forecasts are used as a threshold for assigning losses to the distribution tail. The Expected Shortfalls are estimated assuming that the violations of VaR follow the Generalized Pareto distribution, and the estimates are evaluated. The results indicate that the most efficient model for making predictions of VaR is the asymmetric GJR-GARCH, and that assuming the t distribution generates conservative forecasts. In conclusion there is evidence that the commodities are characterized by asymmetry and conditional normality. Since no comparison is made, the EVT approach can not be deemed to be either superior or inferior to standard approaches to Expected Shortfall modeling, although the data intensity of the method suggest that a standard approach may be preferable.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether Swedish Equity L/S hedge funds present a lower market risk than the index S&P Europe 350 over our holding period using a GARCH/EGARCH Value-at-Risk model. The sample consists of 96 monthly observa- tions between March 2004 and February 2012. The examination shows that the hedge funds in general hold a lower market risk than the index for the next holding period and al- so present a lower estimated loss if our VaR loss is exceeded. This implies that hedge funds would be a good choice for investors to have in a portfolio to reduce the risk.

While the much more use of leverage could be effective in generating alpha o investment, the Kelly strategy is an attractive approach to capital creation and growth. It is originated from the Kelly criterion dubbed ¡§ fortunes formula ¡§ which maximizes the long run growth rate of wealth. There is a tradeoff of rate of return versus risk/volatility as a asymptotic function solution of leverage or position size determined by the application of EGARCH model in the different residual assumptions given by the Normal, Generalized Hyperbolic, and the Generalized Error distributions. No matter there is any timing ability in any strategy, risk management is much more important especially with many repeated trading. We present the performance and risk control of the leveraged ETFs tracked the S&P 500 index in the past ten years using optimal leverage strategy derived by the full Kelly and fraction Kelly criterion.

In this study, different from previous studies, the explanatory power of Student-t distribution is compared to normal distribution by employing both standard GARCH and EGARCH models to dollar/ lira (USD/TRY) exchange rate. Then the impact of Central Bank of Republic of the Turkey&rsquo / s (CBRT) decisions and actions on both the level of exchange rate and the volatility is investigated. Moreover the relationship between volatility and market liquidity is examined using spot foreign exchange (FX) market volume as a proxy. The results reveal that, in contrast to preceding findings, Student-t could not capture the leptokurtic property better than normal distribution does. Furthermore, an increase in Turkish government benchmark bond rates, CBRT FX purchase interventions and announcement of suspending/ decreasing-the-amount-of FX auctions lead Turkish lira to depreciate. Because of the significant positive leverage effect, the results of GARCH and EGARCH variance equations differ so much. Thereby the results should be evaluated cautiously. In addition it is observed that, only EGARCH model gives significant results when the spot market trading volume is included in the models

In this thesis, effects of economic crises after 1990 on the Turkish insurance sector are analyzed with special emphasis on 1994, 2001 and 2008 crises. In the first step, EGARCH model is used to measure the exchange rate uncertainty. Then, a time series model for the aggregate analysis and a panel data model for the disaggregate analysis which both include the estimated exchange rate uncertainty together with other macroeconomic and firm specific variables are set up. The results indicate that aggregate and disaggregate analyses suggest different variables in explaining the premium production which is used as a proxy for the performance of the insurance sector. Nevertheless, the common conclusion was that the growth of premium production decelerates during the crisis periods at a varying degree depending on the year of crisis. 2001 crisis is found to be the crisis which has the most detrimental impact on the Turkish insurance sector. On the other hand, effects of the 2008 crisis are found to be relatively limited.

The day-of-the-week effect is a market anomaly that manifests as the cyclical behaviour of traders in the market. This market anomaly was first observed by M.F.M. Osborne (1959). The literature distinguishes between two types of cyclical effects in the market: the cyclical pattern of mean returns and the cyclical pattern of volatility in returns. This dissertation studies and reports on cyclical patterns in the South African market, seeking evidence of the existence of the day-of-the-week effect. In addition, the dissertation aims to investigate the implications of such an effect on hedge fund managers in South Africa. The phenomenon of cyclical volatility and mean returns patterns (day-of-the-week effect) in the South African All-share index returns are investigated by making use of four generalised heteroskedastic conditional autoregressive (GARCH) models. These were based on Nelson's (1991) Exponential GARCH (EGARCH) models. In order to account for the risk taken by investors in the market Engle et al's, (1987) 'in-Mean' (risk factor) effects were also incorporated into the model. To avoid the dummy variable trap, two different approaches were tested for viability in testing for the day-of- the-week effect. In the first approach, one day is omitted from the equation so as to avoid multi-colinearity in the model. The second approach allows for the restriction of the daily dummy variables where all the parameters of the daily dummy variables adds up to zero. This dissertation found evidence of a mean returns effect and a volatility effect (day-of-the- week effect) in South Africa's All-share index returns data (where Wednesdays have been omitted from the GARCH equations). This holds significant implications for hedge fund managers. as hedge funds are very sensitive to volatility patterns in the market, because of their leveraged trading activities. As a result of adverse price movements, hedge fund managers employ strict risk management processes and constantly rebalance their portfolios according to a mandate, to avoid incurring losses. This rebalancing typically involves the simultaneous opening of new positions and closing out of existing positions. Hedge fund managers run the risk of incurring losses should they rebalance their portfolios on days on which the volatility in market returns is high. This study proves the existence of the day-of-the-week effect in the South African market. These results are further confirmed by the evidence of the trading volumes of the JSE's All-share index data for the period of the study. The mean returns effect (high mean returns) and low volatility found on Thursdays, coincide with the evidence that trading volumes on the JSE on Thursdays are the highest of all the days of the week. The volatility effect on Fridays, (high volatility in returns) is similarly correlated with the evidence of the trading volumes found in the JSE's All-share index data for the period of the study. Accordingly. hedge fund managers would be advised to avoid rebalancing their portfolios on Fridays, which show evidence of high volatility patterns. Hedge fund managers are advised to rather rebalance their portfolios on Thursdays, which show evidence of high mean returns patterns, low volatility patterns and high liquidity. / Thesis (M.Com. (Risk Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.