Special drawing rights are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SDRs are units of account for the IMF, and not a currency per se. They represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged. SDRs were created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of preferred foreign exchange reserve assets, namely gold and U.S. dollars. The ISO 4217 currency code for special drawing rights is XDR and the numeric code is 960.
The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's 5th most traded currency as of April 2022.
The New Zealand dollar is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zealand, it is almost always abbreviated with the dollar sign ($). The abbreviations "$NZ" or "NZ$" are used when necessary to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies.
The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and includes approximately 80% of the total market capitalization of U.S. public companies, with an aggregate market cap of more than $43 trillion as of January 2024.
A reserve currency is a foreign currency that is held in significant quantities by central banks or other monetary authorities as part of their foreign exchange reserves. The reserve currency can be used in international transactions, international investments and all aspects of the global economy. It is often considered a hard currency or safe-haven currency.
In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of the euro.
The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate is an interest rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimates what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. It is the primary benchmark, along with the Euribor, for short-term interest rates around the world. Libor was phased out at the end of 2021, and market participants are being encouraged to transition to risk-free interest rates such as SOFR and SARON.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling.
Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a way of diversifying risk, especially through the use of futures contracts and derivatives. The gold market is subject to speculation and volatility as are other markets. Compared to other precious metals used for investment, gold has been the most effective safe haven across a number of countries.
In international finance, a world currency, supranational currency, or global currency is a currency that would be transacted internationally, with no set borders.
The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The exchange was founded in 1993.
The trade-weighted US dollar index, also known as the broad index, is a measure of the value of the United States dollar relative to other world currencies. It is a trade weighted index that improves on the older U.S. Dollar Index by incorporating more currencies and yearly rebalancing. The base index value is 100 in January 1997. As the U.S. Dollar gains value the index increases.
There are two different types of world currency unit in use today that have different origins and usages.
The effective exchange rate is an index that describes the strength of a currency relative to a basket of other currencies. Typically it is calculated using geometric weighting. It can be computed using the USD as a numeraire. This means the constituent exchange rates are all first defined vis-a-vis the USD.
A currency basket is a portfolio of selected currencies with different weightings. A currency basket is commonly used by investors to minimize the risk of currency fluctuations and also governments when setting the market value of a country's currency.
The United States dollar was established as the world's foremost reserve currency by the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944. It claimed this status from sterling after the devastation of two world wars and the massive spending of the United Kingdom's gold reserves. Despite all links to gold being severed in 1971, the dollar continues to be the world's foremost reserve currency. Furthermore, the Bretton Woods Agreement also set up the global post-war monetary system by setting up rules, institutions and procedures for conducting international trade and accessing the global capital markets using the US dollar.
The Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index (USDOLLAR) is an index of the value of the United States dollar relative to a basket of four currencies: the Euro, the British Pound, the Japanese Yen, and the Australian Dollar.
The effective exchange rate index describes the strength of a currency relative to a basket of other currencies. Although typically the basket is trade weighted, there are others besides the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index.
The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index is an index of the value of the U.S. dollar relative to 16 foreign currencies.
The Euro Currency Index (EUR_I) represents the arithmetic ratio of four major currencies against the Euro: the American dollar, British sterling, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. All ratios are expressed in units of currency per Euro. The index was launched in 2004 by the exchange portal Stooq.com. Underlying are 100 points on 4 January 1971. Before the introduction of the European single currency on 1 January 1999 an exchange rate of 1 euro = DM 1.95583 was calculated.
