The modelling of volatility has long been seminal to finance and risk management in general, as it provides information on the spread of portfolio returns. In order to reduce the overall volatility of a stock portfolio, modern portfolio theory (MPT), within an efficient market hypothesis (EMH) framework, dictates that a well-diversified portfolio should have a market beta of one (thereafter adjusted for risk preference), and thus move in sync with a benchmark market portfolio. Such a stock portfolio is highly correlated with the market, and considered to be entirely hedged against unsystematic risk. However, the risks within and between stocks present in a portfolio still impact on each other. In particular, risk present in a particular stock may spill over and affect the risk profile of another stock included within a portfolio - a phenomenon known as volatility spill-over effects. In developing economies such as South Africa, portfolio managers are limited in their choices of stocks. This increases the difficulty of fully diversifying a stock portfolio given the volatility spill-over effects that may be present between stocks listed on the same exchange. In addition, stock portfolios are not static, and therefore require constant rebalancing according to the mandate of the managing fund. The process of constant rebalancing of a stock portfolio (for instance, to follow the market) becomes more complex and difficult during times of financial distress. Considering all these conditions, portfolio managers need all the relevant information (more than MPT would provide) available to them in order to select and rebalance a portfolio of stocks that are as mean-variance efficient as possible. This study provides an additional measure to market beta in order to construct a more efficient portfolio. The additional measure analyse the volatility spill-over effects between stocks within the same portfolio. Using intraday stock returns and a residual based test (aggregate shock [AS] model), volatility spill-over effects are estimated between stocks. It is shown that when a particular stock attracts fewer spill-over effects from the other stocks in the portfolio, the overall portfolio volatility would decrease as well. In most cases market beta showcased similar results; this change is however not linear in the case of market beta. Therefore, in order to construct a more efficient portfolio, one requires both a portfolio that has a unit correlation with the market, but also includes stocks with the least amount of volatility spill-over effects among each other. / MCom (Risk Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The modelling of volatility has long been seminal to finance and risk management in general, as it provides information on the spread of portfolio returns. In order to reduce the overall volatility of a stock portfolio, modern portfolio theory (MPT), within an efficient market hypothesis (EMH) framework, dictates that a well-diversified portfolio should have a market beta of one (thereafter adjusted for risk preference), and thus move in sync with a benchmark market portfolio. Such a stock portfolio is highly correlated with the market, and considered to be entirely hedged against unsystematic risk. However, the risks within and between stocks present in a portfolio still impact on each other. In particular, risk present in a particular stock may spill over and affect the risk profile of another stock included within a portfolio - a phenomenon known as volatility spill-over effects. In developing economies such as South Africa, portfolio managers are limited in their choices of stocks. This increases the difficulty of fully diversifying a stock portfolio given the volatility spill-over effects that may be present between stocks listed on the same exchange. In addition, stock portfolios are not static, and therefore require constant rebalancing according to the mandate of the managing fund. The process of constant rebalancing of a stock portfolio (for instance, to follow the market) becomes more complex and difficult during times of financial distress. Considering all these conditions, portfolio managers need all the relevant information (more than MPT would provide) available to them in order to select and rebalance a portfolio of stocks that are as mean-variance efficient as possible. This study provides an additional measure to market beta in order to construct a more efficient portfolio. The additional measure analyse the volatility spill-over effects between stocks within the same portfolio. Using intraday stock returns and a residual based test (aggregate shock [AS] model), volatility spill-over effects are estimated between stocks. It is shown that when a particular stock attracts fewer spill-over effects from the other stocks in the portfolio, the overall portfolio volatility would decrease as well. In most cases market beta showcased similar results; this change is however not linear in the case of market beta. Therefore, in order to construct a more efficient portfolio, one requires both a portfolio that has a unit correlation with the market, but also includes stocks with the least amount of volatility spill-over effects among each other. / MCom (Risk Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013