You are currently working as an analyst at Financial Consulting Bhd. Your supervisor has instructed you to form an equity fund portfolio that consists of TWO (2) banks, namely Maybank Bhd & Public Bank Bhd. The portfolios have a total fund size of RM10 million. Before you can start with your analysis, you have to collect monthly stock prices of each stock in your portfolio over the last 12 months (JUNE 2022 to JUNE 2023). You are required to:

(a) Describe the background (operation, management team, market, etc) of the banks (10 marks)

(b) Compute the monthly stock return of each stock in your portfolio in each of the last 12 months. Show your answers in organized tabular format. Based on a review of the return data, decide which investment appears to be riskier. (20 marks)

(c) Compute the average monthly stock return and standard deviation of returns of each stock over the last 12 months. (30 marks)

(d) Compute covariance and correlation between each possible pair of stocks in your portfolio. (10 marks)

(e) Compute the portfolios return and standard deviation assuming funds are split equally in each of the two banks stocks. (10 marks)

(f) Recommend which you will invest stock separately or combine (portfolio) based on the above calculation (part b,c,d, and e). (10 marks)

(g) You are required to use correct writing skills, including grammar, spelling, sentence structure, citation of references, and sources of information. etc. (10 marks) [Total: 100 marks]