Pacific Exchange Rates Report for March 18 – 22
By: Khadija Farooqi, The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team
Pacific Currencies Index
Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency) and then indexed to be 100 at the start of the period.
Throughout the week of March 18th–22nd, the currencies initially moved in sync but later diverged in their performance. The Australian dollar (green) emerged as the most volatile currency of the week, starting off steadily before experiencing a significant surge of 1.1%, followed by a mild decline of 0.3%. The South Korean won (red) and New Zealand dollar (blue) showed strong performance, closely mirroring each other except on March 19th, where the KRW dropped by 0.6% while the NZD remained stable before also dropping by 0.6%. The lowest of the week was the Japanese yen (maroon), remaining relatively steady initially, then enduring a steep 1.3% decline followed by a hopeful 0.2% rise, only to end with another decrease of 0.6%.
Pacific Historical Trends
Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency. The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and average minus one standard deviation, respectively, for the same three-month period.
During the week of March 18th to 22nd, the currencies continued their downward trajectory from the previous week. Both the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) and Japanese Yen (JPY) fell further below the lower bound. The Australian Dollar (AUD) fell just above the lower threshold but made a swift recovery followed by a minor decrease, hopefully alluding to better performance for next week. Lastly, the South Korean Won (KRW) concluded its fall right on the lower bound before experiencing a brief uptick followed by another downturn. Considering the current performance of these currencies, the prospects for next week don't seem very optimistic.
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