PD:Instruments i Mercats Financers

Teaching plan for the course unit

Català

English

General information

Course unit name: Financial Instruments and Markets

Course unit code: 363680

Academic year: 2025-2026

Coordinator: Martí Sagarra Garcia

Department: Department of Business

Credits: 6

Single program: S

Estimated learning time

Total number of hours 150

Face-to-face and/or online activities

	- Lecture with practical component	Face-to-face and online		30
	- Problem-solving class	Face-to-face and online		30

Supervised project

Independent learning

Recommendations

— Financial Management.

— Corporate Finance.

Further recommendations

— Given the fact that the subject addresses current topics, students must keep up to date with the current state of the markets by reading the press (Expansión, Cinco días, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, etc.) and websites (stock markets and Spanish markets such as BME, MEFF, etc.).

— Students should also read studies by the main market analysts.

Competences / Learning outcomes to be gained during study

-	Capacity for learning and responsibility (capacity for analysis, synthesis, to adopt global perspectives and to apply knowledge in practice, and capacity to take decisions and adapt to new situations).
-	CG5. Ability to work in a team (capacity to collaborate with others and contribute to a common project, and capacity to work in cross-disciplinary and multicultural teams).

-	To be able to make financial and business decisions, taking into account the current economic situation.
-	Capacity to take decisions from an economic perspective.

Learning objectives

Referring to knowledge

— Analyse and interpret the functioning of financial markets.

— Know and value the financial instruments that are traded in the financial markets.

— Apply appropriate investment criteria for investing in financial markets.

— Interpret economic variables and indicators that affect investor behaviour.

— Compare the different financial markets.

Referring to abilities, skills

— Solve portfolio management problems taking into consideration the risk–return binomial.

Teaching blocks

1. Money market

* Understand the functioning of the money market in the short and long terms.
Understand the role of the different agents involved in the money market.
Know how mutual funds work

1.1. Description and characteristics of financial markets

1.2. The money market

1.3. The bond and liabilities market

1.4. Collective investment institutions

2. Stock market

* Understand the operation of the Spanish stock market.
Identify the main techniques of stock market investing.
Analyse the behaviour of the Spanish stock market.

2.1. The Spanish stock market

2.2. Stock exchange information

2.3. Analysis of transferable securities

2.4. The behaviour of stock markets

3. Foreign exchange market

* Understand the operation of the foreign exchange market.
Identify the main markets.

3.1. FOREX market description

3.2. Basic investment instruments

4. Derivatives market

* Understand the operation of the derivatives market.
Understand derivative hedging and speculation operations, with practical application to the derivatives market.
Understand the products that are quoted in these markets.

4.1. The futures market

4.2. The options market

Teaching methods and general organization

The course combines active and practical methodologies:

1) Face-to-face learning activities with the use of class notes in a descriptive manner.

2) Resolution of practical exercises in class. Some of these practical activities are completed during the directed tutored sessions, in split subgroups. The schedule for these sessions is announced in class.

3) Group assignment under the supervision of the lecturer.

Official assessment of learning outcomes

Continuous assessment implies evaluating progress in the subject and involves the completion of various exercises throughout the course, with different scores attached to different assignments. The specific activities and corresponding assessment criteria are posted on the Virtual Campus at the beginning of the course. At least one activity is an individual examination.

To complete the continuous assessment process, students must sit one or two examinations on the entire course content on the date set via the Virtual Campus.

For this method of assessment, the following points should be observed:

— The overall mark for continuous assessment is worth 50% of the final grade for the subject and the final examination mark, the remaining 50%. The minimum mark in the final examination to be eligible to pass the subject is 4 out of 10.

— Students who submit the first continuous assessment activity are entered for this assessment procedure.

The content, procedure and criteria for repeat assessment are the same as those described for the single assessment option.

Examination-based assessment

Single assessment consists of a final examination on the date established by the Academic Council.

The date for repeat assessment is also established by the Academic Council.

Reading and study resources

Check availability in Cercabib

Book

Martín Marín, José Luis; Trujillo Ponce, Antonio. Manual de Mercados Financieros. Thomson Paraninfo, 2004

Catàleg UB

Mascareñas Pérez-Iñigo, Juan; Cachón Blanco, José Enrique. Activos y Mercados Financieros: Las Acciones. Pirámide, 2007

Catàleg UB

Mascareñas Pérez-Iñigo, Juan. Gestión de Activos Financieros de Renta Fija. Pirámide, 2002

Catàleg UB

Mascareñas Pérez-Iñigo, Juan. Mercados Financieros Nacionales e Internacionales. 2015

Recurs electrònic extern

Pampillón Fernández, Fernando. Sistema Financiero Español (11ª Edición). Editorial Dykinson, 2006

Versió en línia (11a ed., 2006)

Analistas Financieros Internacionales. Guía del Sistema Financiero Español (7ª Edición). Ediciones Empresa Global. Colección: Biblioteca de Economía y Finanzas. Septiembre 2015

Catàleg UB