How are international exchange rates set?

Posted by jenni on July 10th, 2017

Foreign exchange, or Forex, is the conversion of one country's currency into that of another. In a free economy, a country's currency is valued according to factors of supply and demand. In other words, a currency's value can be pegged to another country's currency, such as the U.S. dollar, or even to a basket of currencies. A country's currency value also may be fixed by the country's government. However, most countries float their currencies freely against those of other countries, which keeps them in constant fluctuation.

The value of any particular currency is determined by market forces based on trade, investment, tourism, and geo-political risk. Every time a tourist visits a country, for example, he or she must pay for goods and services using the currency of the host country. Therefore, a tourist must exchange the currency of his or her home country for the local currency. Currency exchange of this kind is one of the demand factors for a particular currency. Another important factor of demand occurs when a foreign company seeks to do business with a company in a specific country. Usually, the foreign company will have to pay the local company in their local currency. At other times, it may be desirable for an investor from one country to invest in another, and that investment would have to be made in the local currency as well. All of these requirements produce a need for forex onlineand are the reasons why forex onlinemarkets are so large.

International currency exchange rates display how much one unit of a currency can be exchanged for another currency. Currency exchange rates can be floating, in which case they change continually based on a multitude of factors, or they can be pegged (or fixed) to another currency, in which case they still float, but they move in tandem with the currency to which they are pegged.

Factors That Influence Exchange Rates

Floating rates are determined by the market forces of supply and demand. How much demand there is in relation to supply of a currency will determine that currency's value in relation to another currency. For example, if the demand for U.S. dollars by Europeans increases, the supply-demand relationship will cause an increase in price of the U.S. dollar in relation to the euro. There are countless geopolitical and economic announcements that affect the exchange rates between two countries, but a few of the most popular include: interest rate decisions, unemployment rates, inflation reports, gross domestic product numbers and manufacturing information.

Some countries may decide to use a pegged exchange rate that is set and maintained artificially by the government. This rate will not fluctuate intraday, and may be reset on particular dates known as revaluation dates. Governments of emerging market countries often do this to create stability in the value of their currencies. In order to keep the pegged forex online rate stable, the government of the country must hold large reserves of the currency to which its currency is pegged in order to control changes in supply and demand.

Source : www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/forex/how-forex-exchange-rates-set.asp

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jenni
Joined: April 18th, 2017
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