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Effect of Correlation on Diversification

CFA® Exam Level 1, Portfolio Management

This lesson is part 15 of 20 in the course Portfolio Risk and Return - part 1

In this article, we will look at how correlation affects the diversification benefits of a portfolio. Let’s take a portfolio with two assets. The correlation between the two assets can range from -1.0 to 1.0 and depending on the correlation figure the shape of the efficient frontier will change.

The following graph shows how the efficient frontier will look based on different values of correlation. When the correlation between the assets is 1, it means that any change in one asset is equally reflected in the change in the other asset. So, if one asset goes down 10%, the other asset will also go down 10%. There is no diversification benefit. In such a case any portfolio derived from a combination of A and B will fall on the straight line, reflecting the risk simply weighted with both assets.

However, as the correlation starts reducing, the portfolio starts getting diversification benefit and the efficient frontier starts bending towards the left. The lesser the correlation between the two assets, the more the diversification benefit and more it will bend towards the left. By this logic, when the two assets are perfectly negatively correlated, that is, the correlation between them is -1, the diversification should yield maximum risk reduction. So, there could be a combination of A and B where the risk reduces to 0. That point is represented as O in the above chart. It is not however really possible to find assets that are perfectly negatively correlated. For this reason the efficient frontier will usually be a curved line bending towards the left, signifying some levels of diversification.

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‹ Efficient Frontier for a Portfolio of Two Assets

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In this Course

  • Major Types of Return Measures
  • How to Calculate the Holding Period Returns
  • Portfolio Risk & Return – Part 1A – Video
  • Portfolio Risk & Return – Part 1B – Video
  • Arithmetic Returns Vs. Geometric Returns
  • How to Calculate Money-weighted Returns
  • How to Calculate Annualized Returns
  • How to Calculate Portfolio Returns
  • Gross and Net Returns Calculations
  • How to Calculate Leveraged Returns
  • Nominal Returns and Real Returns in Investments
  • Calculate Variance and Standard Deviation of an Asset
  • Standard Deviation and Variance of a Portfolio
  • Efficient Frontier for a Portfolio of Two Assets
  • Effect of Correlation on Diversification
  • Risk Aversion of Investors and Portfolio Selection
  • Utility Indifference Curves for Risk-averse Investors
  • Capital Allocation Line with Two Assets
  • Selecting Optimal Portfolio for an Investor
  • How to Calculate Portfolio Risk and Return

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