Currency Hedging for International Portfolios

Download or read book Currency Hedging for International Portfolios written by Jochen M. Schmittmann and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the benefits from hedging the currency exposure of international investments in single- and multi-country equity and bond portfolios from the perspectives of German, Japanese, British and American investors. Over the period 1975 to 2009, hedging of currency risk substantially reduced the volatility of foreign investments at a quarterly investment horizon. Contrary to previous studies, the paper finds that at longer investment horizons of up to five years the case for hedging for risk reduction purposes remained strong.In addition to its impact on risk, hedging affected returns in economically meaningful magnitudes in some cases.