The one- year futures price on a stock- index portfolio is 812, the level of the stock

Question:

The one- year futures price on a stock- index portfolio is 812, the level of the stock index currently is 800, the one- year risk- free interest rate is 3 percent, and the year- end dividend that will be paid on a $ 800 investment in the market index portfolio is $ 10.

a. By how much is the contract mispriced?

b. Formulate a zero- net- investment arbitrage portfolio and show that you can lock in riskless profits equal to the futures mispricing.

c. Now assume (as is true for small investors) that if you short- sell the stocks in the market index, the proceeds of the short sale are kept with the broker, and you do not receive any interest income on the funds. Is there still an arbitrage opportunity (assuming you don’t already own the shares in the index)? Explain.

d. Given the short- sale rules, what is the no- arbitrage band for the stock- futures price relation-ship? That is, given a stock index level of 800, how high and how low can the futures price be without giving rise to arbitrage opportunities?

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