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Senior management is concerned about the recent developments in the financial markets. There is a general belief that market volatility has been relatively high, yet

Senior management is concerned about the recent developments in the financial markets. There is a general belief that market volatility has been relatively high, yet it might climb even higher than expected in the near future due to the current global health crisis. You have been asked to conduct a thorough risk assessment of your speculative positions undertaken in question 1. For this purpose, the firms foreign currency analyst has provided you with the 2-month benchmark rates of these major currencies:

Currency

Benchmark Interest Rates

2-Month Benchmark Rates

(%)

AUD

2-Month Bank Bill Swap Rates

0.095

GBP

2-Month GBP LIBOR

0.073

CAD

2-Month Treasury Bills

0.150

EUR

2-Month Euro LIBOR

-0.495

NZD

2-Month Bank Bill Yields

0.270

CHF

2-Month CHF LIBOR

-0.744

JPY

2-Month JPY LIBOR

-0.059

USD

2-Month USD LIBOR

0.205

Table 3: Benchmark interest rates on August 22, 2020.

Using the interest rates above, calculate the implied forward bid, ask and mid rates for the currency pairs in Table 4 (next page) [3 Marks]. You must then calculate the value of your FX portfolio at the end of October using the calculated bid/ask rates. Report the expected value of your position in each currency in the position summary in Table 2 [2 Marks]. Finally, you must calculate expected profit/loss (gain or loss over the opening position) on your portfolio in AUD [1 Mark]. The AUD value of the net expected position must be calculated using the estimated mid rates.

Comm / Terms

Bid

Ask

Mid

AUD/USD

AUD/EUR

EUR/AUD

AUD/GBP

GBP/AUD

AUD/JPY

EUR/USD

GBP/USD

USD/JPY

EUR/GBP

EUR/JPY

GBP/JPY

AUD/CAD

EUR/CHF

GBP/CHF

USD/CHF

USD/CAD

NZD/USD

Table 4: Implied forward rates at the end of October 2020. Mid rate = (bid rate + ask rate)/2

Explain your final portfolio position to the senior manager. Given the implied forward rates for October, discuss whether your speculative positions will generate profits for the company. You must explain ending positions for each currency (and its AUD value using mid rates) in your portfolio? Do your portfolio have any exposure to exchange rate risk? What recommendations, if any, will you make to the senior management? [1 Mark].

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