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Max-Sharpe weight in A with a fully invested budget

Question

Assets AA and BB have expected excess returns of 7%7\% and 4%4\%, and their excess returns have covariance matrix [1112]\begin{bmatrix}1&1\\1&2\end{bmatrix}. You hold aa units of AA and bb units of BB with a+b=1a+b=1 (short positions allowed). What value of aa maximises the portfolio's Sharpe ratio?

Short answer

a=10/7a=10/7. The maximum-Sharpe (tangency) weights are proportional to Σ−1μ=[2−1−11][74]=[10−3]\Sigma^{-1}\mu=\begin{bmatrix}2&-1\\-1&1\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}7\\4\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}10\\-3\end{bmatrix}. Scaling to sum to one gives a=107a=\tfrac{10}{7} and b=−37b=-\tfrac37.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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