Topic outline

  • Welcome to Fundamentals of Investment


    • My beloved  Students

      Welcome to Fundamentals of Investment. My name is Md. Anhar Sharif Mollah, and I am your instructor in this course. In addition to welcoming you to the course, I would like to give you some helpful information and a few hints for successful completion of this course. For many of you, this is your first experience with an online course. Online courses provide a different way to study and place different skills from students. You will find that, as an online learner, self motivation and discipline are paramount. This means that you are completely responsible for establishing and maintaining a regular study system. In addition, some students anticipate that online courses will be easier than face-to-face courses. From my experience, mostly students say…..they are NOT. You will be responsible for the same course materials and the same standards of excellence that are required in the face to face courses. While the E-learning team and I will provide you with support during the course but you should be aware of the self-discipline required to successfully complete FIN 407. My experience with online study is that getting started and keeping on schedule are most important to successful completion. Review the course instructions in your Syllabus and course homepage in Compass. They provide important information about the purpose of assignments.



    • Course Information

      Course Title: Fundamentals of Investment
      Course Code: FIN 407
      Credit: 03

      Instructor Profile:


      Course Teacher:         Md. Anhar Sharif Mollah
      Designation:                Assistant Professor 
      Email:                             anhar.bba@diu.edu.bd
      Contact No:                   01758883609


    • Course Objectives:

      The course aims to familiarize students with the process of investments of financial securities to create a strong basic of investment and help them take the right investment decisions using investment tools and techniques that can satisfy their risk-return objectives.


    • Learning Outcomes:

      On completion of this course, the students will be able to

      1.  Understand what institutional investors are and how they operate 
      2. Identify the characteristics of the principal asset classes 
      3.  Identify and distinguish between the principal investment products 
      4. Understand the importance of establishing investor preferences 
      5. Understand the basic principles of portfolio construction 
      6. Distinguish between active and passive portfolio strategies and styles 
      7.  Differentiate between equity and fixed income management styles 
      8.  Understand the interaction between institutional investors and brokers/investment banks

    • Course Contents:

      1. Investment Fundamentals
      2. How Securities are traded
      3. Security-Market Indices
      4. Introduction to Industry and Company Analysis
      5. Portfolio Management: An Overview
      6. Equity Valuation: Concepts and Basic  Tools
      7. Introduction to Fixed Income Valuation
      8. Market Efficiency
      9. Derivative Markets & Instruments
      10. Bangladesh Perspective




    • Course Materials and Readings:

      Text Book:   

      Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management    by Frank K. Reilly

      Reference Books:

      1. Essentials of Investments  by ZviBodie, Alex Kane, and Alan J. Marcus

      2. Investments Analysis and Management by Charles P. Jones (Latest Edition)

      3. CFA Program Curriculum


    • Google Classroom Code:


  • Lecture 1-3: Investment Fundamentals

    Learning objective: 

    The students should be able to:
    Define investment, understand importance of Investment, main functions of the financial system, classifications of assets and markets, major types of securities, currencies, contracts, commodities, and real assets.
    Lecture Contents:
    • Meaning of Investment, 
    • Nature, 
    • Importance of investment, 
    • Investment decision process,
    •  Organization and Functioning of Security Markets.

  • Lecture 4-6: How Securities are traded

    Learning Objectives:

    Students will able to understand way of issuing and trading securities in financial markets. 

    Chapter Content:

    • How firms issue securities, 
    • Where Securities are traded, 
    • Trading on Exchanges, T
    • Trading on the OTC Market, 
    • Trading cost, 
    • Buying on Margin, 
    • Short Sales, and Regulations of Securities Market.

  • Lecture 7-8: Security Index

    Chapter Outcomes:

    The students should be able to:
    • Describe a security market index;
    • Calculate and interpret the value, price return, and total return of an index;
    • Describe the choices and issues in index construction and management;
    • Compare the different weighting methods used in index construction;
    • Calculate and analyze the value and return of an index given its weighting method;
    Chapter Content:

    • Index definition and calculation, 
    • index construction and management,
    •  Uses of market indices, 
    • Equity indices, 
    • Fixed-income indices, 
    • Indices for alternative Indices.

  • Lecture 11-14: Portfolio Management: An Overview

    Learning Outcomes:

    Students will able to 

    • Calculate and interpret major return measures and describe their applicability.
    • Calculate and interpret the mean, variance, and co variance (or correlation) of asset returns based on historical data.
    • Calculate and interpret portfolio standard deviation.
    • Describe and interpret the minimum-variance and efficient frontiers of risky assets and the global minimum-variance portfolio.
    • Discuss the selection of an optimal portfolio, given an investor’s utility (or risk aversion) and the capital allocation line.
    Chapter Content:

    • A portfolio perspective on Investing,
    •  investment client, 
    • Steps in the portfolio management process, pooled investment

  • Midterm Examination Syllabus & marks Distribution

    Instructions for Midterm Examination

    Midterm Syllabus

    • Lecture (1-3): Investment Fundamentals
    • Lecture (4-6): How Securities are traded
    • Lecture (7- 8): Security-Market Indices
    • Lecture (09-10): Introduction to Industry and Company Analysis
    • Lecture (11-14): Portfolio Risk Management

    Midterm Marks Distribution:

    Mid Term Assessment Policy- Total 25 marks 

    MCQ-15 marks

    Short analytical questions -10 marks



    • Mid Term Examination Quiz
      View

      Daffodil International University (DIU)
      Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship
      Program: BBA
      Semester: Spring-2021                                      
      Course Code: FIN 407           
      Examination: Mid-term
      Time: 1.00 Hours                                                      
      Full Marks: 25
      Course Title: Title:  Fundamentals of Investment

      Start Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

      Start date: 11.03.2021


    • Answer Script Assignment

      Please submit your answer script here in pdf format

  • Lecture 15-17: Equity Valuation

    Learning Objectives:

    The students should be able to:

    •  Evaluate whether a security, given its current market price and a value estimate, is overvalued, fairly valued, or undervalued by the market;

    • Describe major categories of equity valuation models;
    •  Calculate the intrinsic value of a non-callable, non-convertible preferred stock;

    Chapter Content:

    • Estimated value and market price, 
    • Major categories of Equity valuation models, 
    • present value models, 
    • Multiplier Models, 
    • Asset-Based valuation.

  • Lecturer 18-19: Fixed Income Valuation

    Learning Objectives:

    The students should be able to:

    • Calculate a bond’s price given a market discount rate;
    •   Identify the relationships among a bond’s price, coupon rate, maturity, and market discount rate (yield-to-maturity);
    •    Define spot rates and calculate the price of a bond using spot rates;
    •     Describe and calculate the flat price, accrued interest, and the full price of a bond;
    • describe matrix pricing;

    Chapter Content:

    • Bond prices and the Time Value of Money, 
    • Prices and yields, 
    • The maturity structure of interest rates, 
    • Yield Spreads.

  • Lecture 20-21:Market Efficiency

    Learning Outcomes:

    The students should be able to:

    .Describe market efficiency and related concepts, including their importance to investment practitioners;

    •  Explain factors that affect a market’s efficiency;

    • Contrast weak-form, semi-strong-form, and strong-form market efficiency;

    • Explain the implications of each form of market efficiency for fundamental analysis, technical analysis, and the choice between active and passive portfolio management;

    Chapter Content:

    • The concept of Market Efficiency, 
    • Forms of Market efficiency,
    •  Market pricing Anomalies, 
    • Behavioral Finance.

  • Lecture 22-23: Derivative Markets & Instruments

    Learning Outcomes:

    The students should be able to:

    a.        Define a derivative and distinguish between exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives;
    b.       Contrast forward commitments with contingent claims;
    c.        Define forward contracts, futures contracts, options (calls and puts), swaps, and credit derivatives and compare their basic characteristics;
    d.       Describe purposes of, and controversies related to, derivative markets;

    Chapter Content:

    • Definitions and uses, 
    • The structure of derivative market, types of Derivatives, 
    • The purposes and benefits of Derivatives, 
    • Criticisms and misuses of Derivatives, 
    • Elementary principles of Derivatives pricing.

  • Lecture 24: Review Class for final Exam

    • Discuss with each other and find the problems regarding upcoming Final examination
    • Try to solve the problems of each other
    • If you have any problems that you can not solve, then inform me and we will discuss it in the classroom