Student Number : 8804388Y - MSc Dissertation - School of Computational and Applied Mathematics - Faculty of Science / This dissertation considers the pricing and hedging of contingent claims in a general semimartingale market. Initially the focus is on a complete market, where it is possible to price uniquely and hedge perfectly. In this context the two fundamental theorems of asset pricing are explored. The market is then extended to incorporate risk that cannot be hedged fully, thereby making it incomplete. Using quadratic cost criteria, optimal hedging approaches are investigated, leading to the derivations of the minimal martingale measure and the variance-optimal martingale measure. These quadratic approaches are then applied to the problem of minimizing the basis risk that arises when an option on a non-traded asset is hedged with a correlated asset. Closed-form solutions based on the Black-Scholes equation are derived and numerical results are compared with those resulting from a utility maximization approach, with encouraging results.

Wir modellieren einen Finanzmarkt mit unendlich vielen Wertpapieren als stochastischen Prozeß X in stetiger Zeit mit Werten in einem separablen Hilbertraum H. In diesem Rahmen zeigen wir die Äquivalenz von Vollständigkeit des Marktes und der Eindeutigkeit des äquivalenten Martingalmaßes unter der Bedingung, daß X stetige Pfade besitzt. Weiter zeigen wir, daß (unter gewissen technischen Bedingungen) für X die Abwesenheit von asymptotischer Arbitrage der ersten/zweiten Art (im Sinne von Kabanov/Kramkov) äquivalent zur Absolutstetigkeit des Referenzmaßes zu einem eindeutigen, lokal äquivalenten Martingalmaß ist. Hat X stetige Pfade, so ist die Abwesenheit von allgemeiner asymptotischer Arbitrage äquivalent zur Existenz eines äquivalenten lokalen Martingalmaßes. Außerdem geben wir ein Kriterium für die Existenz einer optionalen Zerlegung von X an. Dies wenden wir auf das Problem der Risikominimierung bei vorgegebener Investitionsobergrenze (effizientes Hedgen (Föllmer/Leukert)) an, um dieses im unendlichdimensionalen Kontext zu behandeln. Außerdem stellen wir eine unendlichdimensionale Erweiterung des Heath-Jarrow-Morton-Modells vor und nutzen den Potentialansatz nach Rodgers, um zwei weitere Zinsstrukturmodelle zu konstruieren. Als Beitrag zur allgemeinen stochastischen Analysis in Hilberträumen beweisen wir eine pfadweise Version der Itoformel für stochastische Prozesse mit stetigen Pfaden in einem separablen Hilbertraum. Daraus läßt sich eine pfadweise Version des Satzes über die Vertauschbarkeit von stochastischem und Lebesgue-Integral ableiten. Außerdem zeigen wir eine Version der Clark-Formel für eine Brownsche Bewegung mit Werten in einem Hilbertraum. / We model a financial market with infinitely many assets as a stochastic process X with values in a separable Hilbert space H. In this setting we show the equivalence of market completeness and the uniqueness of the equivalent martingale measure, if X has continuous paths. Another result for our model is, that under some technical conditions, the absence of asymptotic arbitrage of the first/second kind (in the sense of Kabanov/Kramkov) is equivalent to the absolute continuity of the reference measure to a unique, locally equivalent, martingale measure. If X has continuous paths, the absence of general asymptotic arbitrage is equivalent to the existence of an equivalent local martingale measure. Furthermore, we give a sufficient condition for the existence of the optional decomposition of X. We apply this result to the problem of risk minimization with given upper limit for investion (efficient hedging (Föllmer/Leukert)). This allows us to solve this optimization problem in our infinite dimensional context. Another result is an infinite dimensional extension of the Heath-Jarrow-Morton term structure model. Two further term structure models are constructed, using the Markov potential approach developed by Rodgers. As a contribution to the theory of stochastic analysis in Hilbert spaces, we proof a pathwise version of the Ito formula for stochastic processes with continuous paths in a separable Hilbert space. This leads to a pathwise version of the interchangability theorem for stochastic and Lebesgue integrals. We also show a version of the Clark formula for Hilbert space valued Brownian motion.

Financial derivatives have been constituting one of the most dynamic fields in the mathematical finance. The main task is represented by the valuation or pricing of these instruments. This theses deals with standard models and their limits, tries to explore advanced methods of continuous martingale measures and on their bases proposes numerical methods applicable to derivatives valuation. Some procedures leading to elimination of certain simplifying assumptions are presented as well.