Investment and Portfolio Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Investment and Portfolio Management - Essay Example The political turmoil in Libya is one of the most crucial among them. Asian markets were one of the most performing ones in the year 2010. The political unrest in Libya has casted a significant impact on the performance of Asian markets. â€Å"Asian currencies completed a weekly decline, led by the Taiwan dollar and South Korea’s won, as an uprising in Libya pushed up oil prices and sapped demand for emerging-market assets.† (Teso, 2011) Due to the serious political unrest in Libya crude oil climbed at a higher rate to $103.41 a barrel. This lead to fall of many Asian stocks as investors withdrew much higher than before. The situation impacted the currency market more than the stocks. It is very much evident that crude oil prices are one of the most important elements of market movement. Many developing nations’ market, especially in Asia is highly depended on the crude oil prices. Therefore, the future of Libya crisis is one of the most important concerns for in vestors across the world. Environmental issues: One of the greatest environmental factors that had affected the market recently is the earthquake in Japan. The fact that Japan is the world’s third largest economy will make the impact even worse. â€Å"The most direct impact is likely to be seen in Japanese exporters, like Honda, Toyota and Sony, whose production facilities will face disruption in the coming days.† (Schlesinger, 2011) Apart from the impact on major Japanese Automakers, the earthquake will impact the liquidity of many insurance companies. All largest insurance companies in Japan will be impacted heavily as they will now have to fund the insurers. As Japan is one of the largest economies in the world, big companies from across the world... This essay stresses that based on the analysis the above three are some of the alternative strategies for Philip Capital. All the three portfolios have their own unique nature. The first strategy is moderate as it has equal distribution of equity and other instruments. The second strategy is aggressive in which the percentage of equity is higher. The third strategy is mainly aimed at risk reduction. On a growth perspective, alternatives 1 and 2 are the best for Philip Capital. Philip Capital should still make a decision about where they should make and active investment and where they should make a passive investment. Generally speaking a passive strategy is useful when the broader market is expected to perform well compared to performance of individual stocks or sectors. The report has given a deep insight into the current issues in investment environment. Investment environment will always be prone to some challenges. The winners are those who come out of such challenges successfully. In terms of Philip Capital, the challenge is a volatile and unpredictable market situation. Based on the analysis of the market conditions, Philip Capital can adopt the two strategies that are mentioned in the previous section. The existing portfolio of Philip Capital has more than 50% of exposure towards UK equities and debts. This percentage is reduced in the two recommended portfolios because the UK market is not expected to perform well in 2011. Philip Capital will thus have a better return on investment from the new portfolio.