Foreign Exchange Market
The foreign exchange market is one of the most important financial markets. It affects the relative price of goods between countries and so can affect trade. It means that it affects the price of imports and so affects a country’s price level (inflation rate). It also affects the international investment and financing decision. In this project, we will try to find why exchange rate would give many risks to a company and how a company can hedge itself.
Definition of Exchange Rate
The price of one currency expressed in terms of another currency is called an exchange rate. With the price it is normal to quote them as the price for one unit of the good. The price of a jacket is how much you have to pay to get 1 jacket. The price of a car is how much you pay to get 1 car. The exchange rate between AUS and US from AUS’s point of view is how many AUS dollars you have to pay to get 1 US dollar. Since you have to pay about AUS$1.55 to get 1 US dollar the exchange rate between AUS and US is 1.55. In this case, the US dollar is the “commodity” currency and the AUS dollar is the “terms” currency.
We denote this SAUS/US=1.55. If a currency appreciates it becomes worth more and so you need less of it to buy one unit of another currency. This makes imports cheaper. For example, if the AUS dollar appreciates then SAUS/US will fall from 1.55. On the other hand, If a currency depreciates it becomes worth less and so you need more of it to buy one unit of another currency. This makes imports more expensive. For example, if the AUS dollar appreciates then SAUS/US will rise from 1.55.
Why does FX give risks to a company?
Every daily exchange rate is changing over time. It might fluctuate sli...
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...is because the government always sets its fixed exchange rate at a greater dollar value in order to import goods cheaper.
Target zone is that there are upper and lower limits. For example, there are 5% limits and the exchange rate is equal to 2. Thus, the upper limit is 2.1 and the lower limit is 1.9. If one day the exchange is reached 2.1, the government will start to intervene and depreciate the exchange rate and vice versa. In this case, the companies may not need to hedge themselves that depends how large the target zone is.
The managed float is that there is not formal exchange rate target, the government will only intervene when the exchange depreciates or appreciates too much in a short period. The companies in that country may need to hedge themselves because there is no formal target and they can still make losses in that period.
The real exchange rate tells us the rate at which we can trade the goods of one country for goods from other countries. The real exchange rate some- times referred to as the terms of trade. To view the exchange rate relationship in real terms using the nominal exchange rate, can be taken samples h a goods produced in some countries, such as cars. Suppose the price of the car with 25,000 dollars, while the price of Japanese cars is 4,000,000 yen . To compare the prices of both cars , we have to transform them into a common currency. If one dollar worth of 80 yen , the price of cars Americans to 80 x 25,000, or 2,000,000 yen. By comparing the price of an American car (2,000,000 yen) and the price of Japanese cars (4,000,000 yen), it can be concluded that the price of the American car is half the price of Japanese cars . In other words, pad a price effect we can swap two American cars to get a Japanese car . Peng count can be written as
In a healthy economy, the increase in inflation probably points to higher interest rates, this will favor the currency under discussion, in this case, the dollar. However, many factors determine exchange rates, and all are related to the commercial relationship between countries.
see, foreign exchange hedging was an area of key importance for AIFS given the level of currency
Foreign exchange is a commodity, and its price fluctuates based on supply and demand, like any commodity. This is not the place for a complete discussion of supply and demand as relates to foreign exchange, but for our purposes, we will assume that supply of and demand for a country’s currency moves along with the supply of or demand for that country’s products or the products of its trading partners. For example, if one country buys many more goods from its neighbor than its neighbor buys from it, the balance of payments at the end of the year will cause its neighbor’s currency to be in great demand, thereby driving its price up.
...y Fixed Exchange Rates: Recent Experiences." Introduction to International Economics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 368. Print.
Globalization has led to an increase in multinational companies that produce different types of goods. Although these multinational corporations have been reaping substantial benefits as a result of market expansion, they face a greater risk of losing their international revenues as a result of fluctuations in exchange rates. Changes in the exchange rate between the countries expose the home company to various risks such as transaction exposure, translation, and economic exposure. As a result, the value of the firm is affected by fluctuation in the exchange rate. To effectively manage the exposures, companies use various hedging strategies such as the use of forwards contracts.
Wang, Jing 2008, ‘Why Are Exchange Rates So Difficult To Predict’, Economic Letter, Vol. 3, no. 6.
Nowadays, the world of business becomes increasingly global, a lot of companies establish themselves as the multinational corporations (MNCs). They start to introduce the brand new products or services into market for gain more profit and become the leaders in the foreign market. However, most of the companies facing the challenge of fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
The currency is stable with respect to inflation, it requires no exchange so there is no loss of value attributable to an exchange rate when transactions cross international borders.
Other types of exchange rate risks are translation risk and so-called hidden risk. The translation risk relates to cases where large multinational companies have subsidiaries in other countries. On the financial statement of the whole group, the company may have to translate the assets and liabilities from foreign accounts into the group statement. The translation will involve foreign exchange exposure. The term hidden risk evolves around the fact that all companies are subject to exchange rate risks, even if they don’t do business with companies using other currencies. A company that is buying supplies from a local manufacturer might be affected of fluctuating foreign exchange rates if the local manufacturer is doing business with overseas companies. If a manufacturer goes out of business, or experience heavy losses, it will affect all the companies it does business with. The co...
Foreign exchange translation exposure results when an MNC translates each subsidiary’s financial data to its home currency for consolidated financial reporting. Foreign exchange translation risk arises from investments in the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, India and Egypt. The functional currencies of the subsidiaries in these countries are different from the Euro
According to The Star Online, up to 80% of the total group borrowings of RM7.49 billion were denominated in US dollar. Simultaneously, 8% of the total group borrowings were denominated in Euro currency. In other words, the total debt of the group that denominated in US currency worth at US$1.33 billion, approximately cost at RM5.91 billion. The total debt that denominated in Euro currency cost around €129.8 million, approximately cost at RM610.61 million. The high composition of debt in foreign currency caused the group extremely vulnerable to foreign exchange risk. A sensitivity analysis conducted by CIMB Research revealed that IOI could face RM148 million of loss or gain for foreign exchange translation risk with every RM0.10 rise/drop in Ringgit to US dollar exchange rate. Due to substantial losses on foreign exchange translation and fair value loss on derivative loss, the company predicted that the second quarter net profit of 2017 will be dropped by 98% to RM15.6 million, compared to the first quarter net profit recorded at RM703.7 million (Kok, 2017). Thus, foreign exchange risk is considered as high risk for
1. What is the business reason for China Noah’s potential currency exposure? Does the company need to subject itself to substantial exchange rate risk? Is the risk “material” to China Noah? Do you think China Noah should hedge?
The foreign exchange market is one of important mechanism in the international business because foreign exchange is an intermediary for all nations in term of the growth of the economy. There are many functions of foreign exchange market in the global economy. In the international business, it uses the foreign exchange markets in four ways. First, the pay...
This new tier was designed in hopes to close the gab between official and black-market trading, a problem Venezuela has been battling for decades. Having such a high differential between the official and unofficial exchange rate has caused many problems for Venezuela, two of the biggest being inflation and scarcity of goods. As of January of this year, inflation rates rose to nearly 56% and the scarcity index reached an all-time high of 28%; which because the exchange rate is fixed, economist claim this will only serve to perpetuate these problems. (INSERT CITATION). That being said, having just started in March, it is still too early for any real in-depth analysis on this new exchange system. Until an adequate amount of time has passed, the world will not know whether or not this exchange system can support itself and, ultimately, Venezuela.