Question

The benefits of portfolio diversification are highest when the individual securities within the portfolio have returns that: vary proportionally with the rest of the portfolio. are largely uncorrelated with the rest of the portfolio. vary directly with the rest of the portfolio. are perfectly correlated with the market portfolio.

Answer 1

The benefits of portfolio diversification can be obtained if the fund manager adds the stocks which are less than perfectly correlated. In other words, the stocks in a portfolio should have coefficient correlation lesser than 1. The market portfolio is considered to be fully diversified, this is why if the stocks with high correlation with market portfolio is added to our own portfolio, it will approach to the fully diversified portfolio and help in reducing the total risk.