Relevance of currency exposure in the valuation of single-country closed-end funds.
Mulugetta, Abraham ; Ghosh, Dilip K. ; Cheng, Joseph 等
ABSTRACT
The relevance of currency translation exposure on the valuation of
single country closed end funds (SCCEFs) is examined, using net asset
values (NAVs) and market prices of these funds--the two prices closed
end funds have. Given differential information holding hypothesis, the
size of assets and liabilities of closed end funds, and the method of
computing net asset value, it is anticipated that changes in exchange
rates will quickly be observed in the net asset values, and thereby
influence the volatility of discounts or premiums of these funds. This
study particularly focuses on daily movements of exchange rates, market
prices and net asset values.
JEL: G150, F310
Keywords: Currency exposure; Currency crisis; Closed-end funds; Net
asst vale (NAV); Hedge
I. CURRENCY EXPOSURE
Currency exposure and the attendant risk on receivables, payables,
revenues and costs as a result of change in exchange rates are
unavoidable events that corporations have to learn to live with. The
decision on how to manage the currency exposure depends on the
management philosophy of each corporation, the level and types of
exposure. To hedge or not to hedge transaction exposure revolves, among
others, on the amount of net exposure, the volatility of the currency
and the availability of instruments for hedging purposes. Economic
exposure because of its long-term nature needs structural changes to
influence inflows (revenues) and outflows (costs) to reduce the impact
of changes in exchange rates. Survival and growth particularly of
multinational corporations are linked on how effectively these two types
of exposure are managed. However, when it comes to translation exposure
the juries (academics and practitioners) are still out on its impact in
the valuation of corporations. FASB#8 in earlier years and FASB#52 since
1980s have dealt with the issue of translation exposure and promulgated on how to recognize, adjust and report translation gains or losses in
consolidated financial statements. The issue at hand is whether to hedge
or not to hedge translation (or as some call it accounting) exposure.
Translation exposure occurs when multinational corporations reinstate and translate their foreign subsidiaries financial statements and
incorporate them in their consolidated financial statements. This
accounting exercise is to report to the public an overall picture of the
health of multinational corporations. It does not affect the cash
inflows or outflows and as such it is strongly argued in some quarter
that it is a paper or accounting exposure and irrelevant to take a
costly hedging position. Others argue the translation gain or loss is
included in the financial statement and the investing public may use it
in the valuation of corporation and therefore translation exposure need
to be hedged. In general the majority of the practitioners side on the
irrelevance of translation exposure, as seen in their SEC filings, when
it comes to the valuation of stock prices of corporations. This study
argues the preeminence of translation exposure in the valuation of
single country closed end funds (SCCEF) both in the determination of
market prices and NAVs.
II. DISCOUNTS AND PREMIUMS IN SCCEFS
The study by Lee, Schleifer, and Thaler (1990) states that SCCEFs
are populated by two types of investors: rational and noise investors.
Unlike rational investors, noise traders' expectations about asset
returns are partly influenced by their sentiments, which cause
overestimation on asset return at some times and underestimation at
other times. It is reasoned that noise traders' overestimation and
underestimation on returns are unpredictable in the eyes of the rational
investors. Since the emotion-charged estimations tend to be correlated across noise traders, it is hard to deal with their estimates. As a
result, the closed-end funds, which are largely comprised of individual
investors, are subject to the systematic risk of such noise
traders' sentiments. When this risk is priced at equilibrium, the
funds are expected to earn higher returns in comparison to their
fundamental values and, therefore, the funds tend to be under-priced.
This is one of the reasons why closed-end funds may usually be
discounted in comparison to NAV (Net Asset Value) of the funds. This
study was challenged by Chen, Kan and Miller (1993a, 1993b), and
subsequently improved by Chopra, Lee, Schleifer and Thaler (1993a,
1993b).
Although the "investor sentiment" argument is convincing,
recent studies have pointed out that this argument still fails to
explain the existence of persistent premiums of some funds represented
by several Asian SCCEFs. The question that arises is how to explain the
existence of persistent premium if the anomaly of SCCEF price is caused
by the resale price risk attributed to individual investors'
sentiment. This recent study turned to the "differential
information holding" explanation. It has been argued that, in
contrast to individual investors, closed-end fund (CEF) managers and
institutional investors are likely to hold more accurate information
(i.e. change in exchange rate) affecting the prices of securities that
make up the SCCEFs. SCCEF market prices, being largely determined by
individual investors, might not adjust to information as quickly and
accurately as the NAVs, which are traditionally computed by fund
management professionals. Individual investors' inability to
accurately incorporate information into price (that is, over or
underestimating) determines the magnitude/ direction of fluctuations of
discounts/premiums of SCCEFs.
III. TRANSLATION EXPOSURE AND COMPUTATION OF NAV
NAVs are calculated, as already pointed out, by management of
SCCEFs. It is computed by taking the total assets of the single country
closed end fund (ASCCEF), subtracting the liabilities (LSCCEF), and
dividing the result by the number of shares outstanding (N) (= ASCCEF -
LSCCEF)/N). The obvious question to ask is the following: what triggers
a change in NAV? The immediate answer is that NAV would change as a
result of change in either the assets, liabilities, or the number of
shares outstanding. The number of shares outstanding rarely changes in
closed end funds, unlike that of open-end mutual funds. In closed end
funds, once shares are issued, they are traded in the secondary market
as any other securities issued by corporations. The liabilities of SCCEF
are minuscule in magnitude in comparison to the assets. Therefore, most
of the changes that influence NAV are a result of change in the value of
the assets. These assets are financial assets (equity securities). This
is not to state that the value of the liabilities will remain constant.
However, in the computation of NAV, the sheer size of the value of the
assets dominates the value of the liabilities and thus the NAV.
NAV is computed and adjusted by management of SCCEF on a weekly
and, recently (for some funds), on a daily basis. SCCEFs are made up of
different securities within a specified single country. They are
portfolios of securities where each security is traded in the issuing
country while the portfolio is traded as SCCEF in another country, such
as Hong Kong, U.K. and U.S. Similar to any other international portfolio
investments, the performance of SCCEFs is influenced by general market
conditions, regional economic conditions, exchange rates (mainly between
the country where the securities of the SCCEF are and the country where
they are traded) and interest of investors on SCCEFs, among others.
Change in exchange rates between the countries where the securities
are issued and where they are traded triggers a change in NAV and market
price of SCCEFs. The question that this study raises is which one of
these prices, the NAV or the market price, efficiently incorporates the
change in exchange rates? If we assume that professionals manage the
SCCEFs, these professionals measure and input the impact of currency
translation, transaction and economic exposures. Unlike subsidiaries of
multinational corporations where currency translation exposure is argued
by some to be irrelevant when consolidated financial statements are
prepared, we propose here that translation exposure plays a significant
role as economic and transaction exposures when it comes to SCCEFs. The
assets of SCCEFs are mainly composed of securities of a single country.
A change in exchange rates is going to affect the economic performance,
the revenues and costs, of the firms that have issued the securities,
and thereby the prices of the securities within the country. Similarly,
depending upon the strategy adopted by management of closed end fund on
the level of turnover of securities that make up the SCCEF, transaction
exposure may also impact on the value of the assets. Finally, in the
preparation of the balance sheet necessary to calculate the NAV, on a
weekly or recently on a daily basis, the different accounts in the
balance sheet are recalculated for the effect of currency translation
exposure. It is hard to imagine that small investors that populate closed end funds will be going through this rigorous computation on a
weekly or daily basis to efficiently price SCCEFs. Therefore, this study
expects the NAV, which is computed by management of SCCEF, to lead in
assessing, measuring and incorporating the influence of currency
exposure.
The recent study by Mulugetta, Ghosh, and Mulugetta (1998a) closely
examined the movements of discounts/premiums of thirty-four SCCEFs. The
study identified two distinctive patterns: the "Southeast
Asian" pattern unique to the funds in crisis and the "Latin
American" pattern unique to the funds least affected by the crisis.
The SCCEFs of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Japan
represented the first pattern, where the discounts significantly shrank (or the premiums grew) due to the faster depreciation of the net asset
value (NAV) in comparison to the reduction in price. From the
differential information holding perspective, it is reasoned that during
the currency crisis most individual investors faced difficulty in
accurately understanding the speed and the magnitude of the depreciation
of the currency and the values of the securities that made up the
SCCEFs. As a result, the reduction of the SCCEFs price may not have
occurred as quickly as the NAV, leading to shrinking discounts and
widening premiums.
In contrast, the discounts of the Latin American funds widened
during the crisis period due to faster growth of the NAVs in comparison
to the market prices. In Latin America as well as in Taiwan, the
securities that made up the SCCEFs remained strong and increased in
value over the period studied despite the temporary depreciation of the
local currencies. The depreciation appeared to be a sympathetic reaction
rather than driven by fundamental economic forces. This reaction had
been discerned more clearly by managers rather than by individual
investors of SCCEFs. In this intriguing investment environment, it
seemed difficult for individual investors to understand the speed and
the magnitude of the appreciation or depreciation of the underlying
securities. Thus, the increase in the SCCEFs price was smaller than the
NAV, which widened the discounts. These macro-level analytical results
were also supported by the regression analysis at the micro level. The
movements of discounts/ premiums of European SCCEFs were similar to
those in Latin America, but were less distinctive than the Latin
American funds.
IV. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The present study examines the correlation of NAV, market price and
change in exchange rate to see if NAVs lead market prices of SCCEFs? It
is argued earlier that translation exposure is relevant to the valuation
of SCCEFs, and according to the differential information holding
hypothesis, closed-end fund managers are likely to quickly adjust NAV.
SCCEF market prices, being largely determined by individual investors,
might not adjust to information as quickly and accurately as the NAVs.
Therefore it is expected that when the daily market prices, NAVs and
exchange rates are studied that the NAV will be highly correlated to
exchange rate. The study has focused on pre and during Asian currency
crisis periods.
As discussed earlier, an SCCEF is a portfolio comprised mainly of
securities of a specific country traded in another national market. This
is similar to that of a specific stock where trading occurs among
investors, unlike that of open-end-mutual funds where investors buy from
and sell to the management of the specific mutual fund. Since SCCEF is a
portfolio of securities, for example, from Thailand, traded in the U.S.,
and given the number of shares outstanding is fixed, the appreciation of
the dollar against the Thai baht will reduce the market price of the
SCCEF. The appreciation of the dollar will now have more purchasing
power in Thailand for goods, services, or securities, whereas Thai
securities bundled as a portfolio, traded in the U.S., will command a
lower price than the pre-dollar appreciation era. If SCCEF investors are
reasonably rational, and then we expect that as currency depreciates
against the dollar, the market price of SCCEF and NAV will also
depreciate by the same magnitude all other things remaining the same.
Thus, significant reductions in SCCEFs' prices and NAVs are
expected to occur in the magnitude similar to the exchange rate change
between the pre-crisis and the crisis periods.
It is also expected that the change in NAV and market price will be
significantly explained by the movement of exchange rate after
controlling for the changes in the other modeled variables. As any other
international portfolio investments, the performance of SCCEFs is
influenced by general market conditions, regional economic conditions,
exchange rates (mainly between the country where the securities of the
SCCEF are and the country where they are traded) and interest of
investors on SCCEFs, among others. In the two regression models used in
this study, these variables are included to extract the relationships
that exist between NAV and exchange rate, and market price and exchange
rate.
If SCCEF investors are rational investors, then we expect that as
currency depreciates against the dollar, the market price of SCCEF and
NAV will also depreciate as described above. However, if a significant
number of SCCEF investors are noise traders who have less access to
accurate information and are driven by sentiment, the market price of
SCCEF may not be influenced by fundamental economic factors, including
exchange rate, in the way described above. Particularly, amid of the
currency crisis, individual investors may overreact to the situation by
extremely overestimating or underestimating the change in the local
currency rate against the dollar. If this is the case, we may expect
that the market price of SCCEFs may not be significantly influenced by
fundamental factors, including the change in exchange rate, in the way
NAVs are affected by these factors.
V. TYPES OF DATA FOR THE STUDY
To examine these issues and explore further, FundEdge database has
been studied to identify SCCEFs that have started disclosing daily NAV
in 1996. In 1996 some SCCEFs started to disclose daily NAV.13 funds were
identified, and only 8 fulfilled the requirements of the study in terms
of other variables. These 8 SCCEFs have been examined from January 1,
1996 to June 30, 1997 (the pre-crisis period) and from July 1, 1997 to
December 5, 1997 (the crisis period). For each, the daily opening, high,
low and closing price and volume of shares traded have been collected.
Corresponding to each SCCEF nation, exchange rates (opening, high, low
and closing) have also been retrieved from the Center for Trading and
Analysis of Financial Instruments at Ithaca College, New York. The daily
S&P index has been retrieved for the same period, as well as the net
asset value (NAV) of the 8 SCCEFs from the Center as well as the
FundEdge database.
VI. THE MODEL AND STATISTICAL METHOD
To examine the research expectations presented above two
statistical models along with graphs and correlation table are used:
Model 1:
[Y.sub.1] = [B.sub.0] + D + [B.sub.1][X.sub.11] +
[B.sub.2][X.sub.12] + [B.sub.3][X.sub.13] + [B.sub.4][X.sub.14] +
[B.sub.5][D.sup.*][X.sub.11] + [B.sub.6][D.sup.*][X.sub.12] +
[B.sub.7][D.sup.*][X.sub.13] + [B.sub.8][D.sup.*][X.sub.14] + e
where [Y.sub.1] = In SCCEF prices; D = Dichotomous variable to
distinguish Study Period 1 (Jan 1996 - June 1997) and Study Period 2
(July 1997 - Dec 1997); [X.sub.11] = In S&P 500 Index; [X.sub.12] =
In Regional CEF Price Index; [X.sub.13] = In Volume of Share Traded;
[X.sub.14] = In Exchange Rate (currency/$); [D.sup.*][X.sub.11] ...
[D.sup.*][X.sub.14] = Interaction terms between D and [X.sub.11] ...
[X.sub.14]; [B.sub.0] ... [B.sub.8] = Regression Coefficients.
Model 2:
[Y.sub.2] = [B.sub.0] + D + [B.sub.l][X.sub.21] +
[B.sub.2][X.sub.22] + [B.sub.3][X.sub.23] + [B.sub.4][X.sub.24] +
[B.sub.5][D.sup.*][X.sub.21] + [B.sub.6][D.sup.*][X.sub.22] +
[B.sub.7][D.sup.*][X.sub.23] + [B.sub.8][D.sup.*][X.sub.24] + e
where [Y.sub.2] = In NAV; Independent variables are the same as
above.
VII. RESULTS
Table 1 indicates the descriptive statistics of sixteen currency
exchange rates during the Asian crisis period in comparison to the
pre-crisis period. This larger number of currencies rather than the
eight currencies specific to the SCCEFs under study are supposed to give
an overall picture of the exchange market of the period. The volatility
and the magnitude of the depreciation of Korean Won, Indonesian Rupiah,
Malaysian Ringgit, and Thai Baht were large, while Japanese Yen, Taiwan
Dollars, Singapore Dollars, and Indian Rupees held their positions
relatively well during this period. Several European currencies such as
German Marks, Italian Lira, Spanish Pesetas and Swiss Francs also
experienced significant depreciation, but the changes were not as large
as the Asian currencies. The impact of the crisis was less in South
America as shown by the relatively small decrease in Brazilian Reals,
Chilean and Mexican Pesos.
Table 2 represents the change in SCCEF market prices and net asset
values (NAVs) between the pre-crisis and the crisis periods. The results
from these tables partially answer our first research question. The
decreases in both market values and NAVs of SCCEFs in South Korea,
Malaysia, and Thai were large, - ranging from -33% to -38% change in
market price, and from -30% to -57% change in NAV.
In contrast to Asian SCCEFs, the SCCEFs of other regions remained
solid, and the prices and the NAVs of the SCCEFs significantly increased
during the crisis period in comparison to the pre-crisis period. The
South American and European funds were particularly bullish. The SCCEFs
in South America grew on an average by more than 19% in market price and
by nearly 33% in NAV. The average growth in European SCCEFs was also
more than 12% both in price and NAV. Interestingly, the behavior of the
Taiwan funds was remarkably similar to the South American funds with the
significant increase in both the market price and the NAV. Taiwan was in
a sense the "oasis" in the region in crisis.
The results from Tables 1 and 2 may indicate that the depreciation
of non-Asian currencies was most likely reactive to the Asian currency
crisis, which was not properly incorporated in the changes in the SCCEFs
market price nor NAV. Whereas, the catastrophic depreciation of the
Asian currencies was largely the reflection of their weakening economic
fundamentals, which, in turn, resulted in a quarter to more than a third
reduction in market price and NAV of the Asian SCCEFs on average.
The graphs in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 depict the daily moves of NAVs,
market prices of the 8 funds and exchange rates during the Asian
currency crisis period. The figures give visual substantiation of the
co-movements of the variables of the Asian funds and interesting views
of other funds in line with the discussion of Tables 1 and 2.
The correlation results of NAV and exchange rate, and market price
and exchange rate over the whole period and the two sub-periods are
shown in Table 3. The results with the exception of Korea, Thai and
Malaysia SCCEFs for the three periods and for the eight SCCEFs during
the currency crisis period are not in line with our presumption. Other
factors may be playing prominent role. These factors need to be
accounted and controlled as much as possible to have a clear picture of
the influence of exchange rate in the valuation of SCCEFs. As any other
international portfolio investments, the performance of SCCEFs in terms
of NAV and market price is influenced by general market conditions,
regional economic conditions, exchange rates and interest of investors
on SCCEFs, among others. The regression analysis is expected to address
this issue.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]
VIII. REGRESSION ANALYSIS RESULTS
In this section, the results of the two regression models presented
in Table 4 are discussed to answer the second question of the study.
That is, how change in exchange rates affected SCCEFs' prices and
NAVs in the periods preceding and during the crisis.
If the depreciation of the currencies is rationally incorporated in
the reduction of the SCCEFs' prices and NAVs as predicted, we
should observe significant beta coefficients in the negative direction
in the results of Model 1 and Model 2 tests. During the pre-crisis
period, 7 out of 8 funds' prices and NAVs have negative exchange
rate coefficients. Four of these coefficients are statistically
significant for price and five for NAV. During the crisis period six of
the exchange rate coefficients for price and NAV are negative. Four for
price and five for NAV are statistically significant. However, the
Brazil fund and the German funds did not confirm we anticipated. This
may be due to a relatively small depreciation of these two currencies
not fundamentally justified but sympathetically responding to the Asian
currency depreciation.
The possible significant change in the power of the exchange rate
to explain the market price and the NAV movements between the pre-crisis
and the crisis periods has been tested by the interaction term in Model
1 and Model 2. Most of the coefficients associated with the interaction
terms have not been significant. The direction of the change has been
inconsistent, indicating that there is little change in the impact of
the exchange rate on the SCCEFs price or NAV during the crisis period in
comparison to the pre-crisis period.
IX. CONCLUSION
This work has found evidence that supports that translation
exposure is quickly incorporated by management in the determination of
NAVs. In addition, investors also consider change in exchange rate in
determining the market price of SCCEFs. From the differential
information holding perspective, it is argued that amid the currency
crisis, most individual investors faced difficulty in accurately
understanding the speed and the magnitude of the depreciation of the
currency and the values of the securities that make up the SCCEFs. As a
result, the reduction of the SCCEFs price may not have occurred as
quickly as the NAV.
In summary, the recent Asian currency crisis has offered us an
interesting quasi-experimental situation, where we have observed
extremely rapid depreciation of the net asset values of the underlying
securities of SCCEFs in Asia and fast appreciation of the NAVs in other
regions. In both cases, the market prices of SCCEFs have been mostly
adjusted at a much slower pace, which resulted in the significant
shrinkage in the discounts in Asia and an increase in the discounts in
other regions. The different results presented confirm that translation
exposure is important in the valuation of SCCEFs. The results also
confirm to a large extent that NAV leads market price in incorporating
the impact of translation exposure. The limitation of this study is the
sample size. As more daily data on NAV becomes available the sample size
can be increased and the questions can be revisited to give validity to
the findings of our research.
REFERENCES
Barclay, M.J., C.G. Holderness and J. Pontiff, 1993, "A
Private Benefits from Block Ownership and Discounts on Closed-End
Funds," Journal of Financial Economics, 263-291.
Chen, N., R. Kan and M. H. Miller, 1993a, "Are Discounts on
Closed-end Funds a Sentiment Index?", Journal of Finance, 48,
795-800.
Chen, N., R. Kan and M. H. Miller, 1993b, "A Rejoinder,"
Journal of Finance, 48, 809-810.
Chopra, N., C. Lee, A. Shleifer and R. H. Thaler, 1993a, "Yes
Discounts on Closed-End Funds are a Sentiment Index," Journal of
Finance, 48, 801-808.
Chopra, N., C. Lee, A. Shleifer and R. H. Thaler, 1993b,
"Summing Up," Journal of Finance, 48, 811-812.
De Long, J.B., A. Shleifer, L. H. Summers, and R. J. Waldmann,
1990, "Noise Trader Risk in Financial Markets," Journal of
Political Economics, 98, 703-738.
Droms, W.G., and D.A. Walker, 1994, "A Investment Performance
of International Mutual Funds," Journal of Financial Research, 17,
1-14.
Elton, E. J., Gruber, M. J. and Buss, J. A, 1998, "Do
Investors Care About Sentiment?," Journal of Business, 71, 477-500.
Eun C.S., Kolodny, R. and B.G. Resnick, 1991, "U.S. based
International Mutual Funds: A Performance Evaluation," Journal of
Portfolio Management, 17, 88-94.
Gruber, M., 1996, "Another Puzzle: The Growth in actively
Managed Mutual Funds," The Journal of Finance, 51, 783-810.
Kim, C., A., 1994, "Investor Tax Trading Opportunities and
Discounts on Closed-en Mutual Funs," Journal of Financial Research,
17, 65-75.
Kumar, R. and Noronha, G. M, A, 1992, "A Re-Examination of the
Relationship Between Closed-End Funds Discounts and Expenses," The
Journal of Financial Research, 15,139.
Lavine, A, 1999, "Getting Closer to Closed-End Funds,"
Financial Planning, August.
Lee, C., A. Shleifer, and R. H. Thaler, 1991, "An Investor
Sentiment and the Closed-end Fund Puzzle," Journal of Finance, 46,
75-109.
Levy, H., and M. Sarnat, 1970, "An International
Diversification of Investment Portfolios," American Economics
Review, September, 668-692.
Mulugetta, A., 1986, Variability of Returns of Common Stocks of
Multinational Enterprises as a Result of Geographical Segment
Information Disclosure, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Mulugetta, A., and Y. Mulugetta, 1997, "The Influence of
Exchange Rates, Institutional Holdings, Volume of Shares Traded and
Indices on Discount or Premium of Single-Country Closed-End Funds,"
The Journal of International Finance, 9, 607-624.
Sias, R. W., 1997, "A Price Pressure and the Role of
Institutional Investors in Closed-End Funds," The Journal of
Financial Research, 20, 211-229.
Abraham Mulugetta (a), Dilip K. Ghosh (b), and Joseph Cheng (a)
(a) Ithaca College
(b) Rutgers University and Universiti Utara Malaysia
Table 1
Currency rate change
Pre-Crisis Crisis
Mean Mean Change % T-test
Japanese Yen 112.54 118.99 5.73% ***
Korean Won 824.36 919.59 11.55% ***
Taiwan Dollars 27.43 28.91 5.38% ***
Indonesian Rupiah 2350.22 2940.20 25.10% ***
Malaysian Ringgit 2.51 2.92 16.22% ***
Singapore Dollars 1.42 1.50 6.29% ***
Thai Baht 25.51 32.88 28.91% ***
Indian Rupees 35.61 36.25 1.77% ***
Brazilian Reals 1.04 1.09 4.81% ***
Chilean Pesos 413.89 416.77 0.70% ***
Mexican Pesos 7.68 7.91 2.98% ***
German Marks 1.56 1.77 14.02% ***
Italian Lira 1576.47 1734.03 9.99% ***
Spanish Pesetas 131.08 149.78 14.27% ***
Swiss Francs 1.30 1.46 12.81% ***
Pre-Crisis Crisis Pre-Crisis Crisis
Min Min Max Max
Japanese Yen 103.92 111.42 127.03 127.74
Korean Won 768.90 884.70 893.70 1169.00
Taiwan Dollars 26.90 27.77 27.85 32.64
Indonesian Rupiah 2293.33 2419.03 2447.31 3716.76
Malaysian Ringgit 2.47 2.49 2.56 3.53
Singapore Dollars 1.39 1.42 1.45 1.60
Thai Baht 24.90 22.60 26.20 40.60
Indian Rupees 34.10 35.71 38.05 39.10
Brazilian Reals 1.01 1.07 1.07 1.11
Chilean Pesos 402.20 411.40 428.00 436.50
Mexican Pesos 7.33 7.72 8.05 8.41
German Marks 1.44 1.71 1.73 1.88
Italian Lira 1496.00 1675.50 1718.61 1840.75
Spanish Pesetas 120.95 144.35 146.10 158.80
Swiss Francs 1.16 1.39 1.49 1.54
Note: *** p<.0001
Table 2
SCCEF price and NAV change
SCCEF Price
Pre-Crisis Crisis
Mean Mean Change% T-test
Korea Fund 18.53 12.28 -33.74% ***
ROC Taiwan 10.83 11.72 8.18% ***
Malaysia Fund 18.53 11.74 -36.67% ***
Thai Fund 20.54 12.68 -38.28% ***
Mexico Fund 15.55 20.51 31.84% ***
Brazil Fund 23.14 27.20 17.57% ***
Germany Fund 12.39 14.85 19.87% ***
Italy Fund 8.71 9.78 12.30% ***
Net Asset Value
Pre-Crisis Crisis
Mean Mean % Change T-test
Korea Fund 17.03 11.85 -30.42% ***
ROC Taiwan 11.21 14.67 30.86% ***
Malaysia Fund 20.36 11.21 -44.97% ***
Thai Fund 20.49 8.79 -57.12% ***
Mexico Fund 18.55 25.67 38.38% ***
Brazil Fund 26.33 33.72 28.09% ***
Germany Fund 15.22 18.28 20.12% ***
Italy Fund 10.37 11.97 15.41% ***
Note: *** p<.001
Table 3
Correlation analysis
Korea Taiwan Thai Malaysia
07/01/96 - 12/04/97 0.923 -0.104 0.771 0.925
(Entire Period) 0.918 0.201 0.788 0.897
07/01/96 - 06/30/97 0.888 -0.557 0.007 -0.003
(Pre-Crisis Period) 0.862 -0.445 0.036 0.049
07/01/97 - 12/04/97 0.917 0.843 0.960 0.977
(Crisis Period) 0.860 0.815 0.931 0.962
Mexico Brazil Italy Germany
07/01/96 - 12/04/97 -0.214 -0.728 -0.675 0.769
(Entire Period) -0.128 -0.616 -0.676 0.786
07/01/96 - 06/30/97 -0.434 -0.915 -0.477 0.701
(Pre-Crisis Period) -0.228 -0.889 -0.498 0.699
07/01/97 - 12/04/97 0.829 0.784 0.585 0.470
(Crisis Period) 0.875 0.806 0.396 0.477
Note: Correlations between NAV and Exchange Rate are bolded.
Correlations between Price and Exchange Rate are not bolded.
Table 4
Results of the regression models
ROC Taiwan Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept 4.672 0.03 -4.684 0.04
X1: SP500 0.307 0.00 1.115 0.00 ***
X2: Region -0.483 0.00 0.751 0.00 ***
X3: Volume 0.008 0.09 -0.025 0.00 ***
X4: Currency -0.945 0.15 -0.619 0.18 ns
Model 2
Intercept -2.909 0.13 -6.462 0.00
X1: SP500 1.288 0.00 1.146 0.00 ns
X2: Region -0.697 0.00 0.944 0.00 ***
X3: Volume 0.009 0.02 -0.023 0.01 ***
X4: Currency -0.429 0.46 -0.228 0.61 ns
Korea Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept 24.963 0.00 8.475 0.00
X1: SP500 -0.487 0.00 -0.767 0.00 ns
X2: Region 0.095 0.06 1.464 0.00 ***
X3: Volume -0.017 0.00 -0.013 0.07 ns
X4: Currency -2.829 0.00 -0.605 0.00 ***
Model 2
Intercept 27.720 0.00 10.848 0.00
X1: SP500 -0.501 0.00 0.010 0.93 ***
X2: Region -0.147 0.00 0.737 0.00 ***
X3: Volume -0.009 0.04 -0.015 0.00 ns
X4: Currency -3.154 0.00 -1.479 0.00 ***
Malaysia Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept 5.598 0.00 2.619 0.02
X1: SP500 -0.440 0.00 -0.094 0.59 ns
X2: Region 0.472 0.00 0.747 0.00 **
X3: Volume -0.019 0.00 -0.018 0.00 ns
X4: Currency -0.979 0.02 -1.122 0.00 ns
Model 2
Intercept 8.453 0.00 7.277 0.00
X1: SP500 -0.506 0.00 -0.531 0.02 ns
X2: Region 0.145 0.01 0.594 0.00 ***
X3: Volume -0.016 0.00 -0.035 0.00 *
X4: Currency -2.621 0.00 -2.324 0.00 ns
Thai Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept 16.952 0.00 3.906 0.06
X1: SP500 -1.158 0.00 -0.603 0.09 *
X2: Region 0.700 0.00 1.259 0.00 ***
X3: Volume -0.025 0.00 0.010 0.42 ***
X4: Currency -2.469 0.00 -0.092 0.40 ***
Model 2
Intercept 28.368 0.00 3.098 0.13
X1: SP500 -1.976 0.00 -0.363 0.30 ***
X2: Region 0.610 0.00 1.363 0.00 ***
X3: Volume -0.029 0.00 -0.034 0.01 ns
X4: Currency -4.267 0.00 -0.427 0.00 ***
Mexico Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Beta Betas
Intercept 0.956 0.00 -5.619 0.00
X1: SP500 0.814 0.00 1.597 0.00 ***
X2: Region 0.209 0.00 0.270 0.00 ns
X3: Volume 0.011 0.00 -0.002 0.66 *
X4: Currency -2.070 0.00 -1.469 0.00 *
Model 2
Intercept -0.777 0.00 -2.941 0.02
X1: SP500 1.102 0.00 1.741 0.00 ***
X2: Region 0.041 0.42 -0.143 0.03 *
X3: Volume -0.006 0.06 -0.001 0.87 ns
X4: Currency -1.765 0.00 -2.555 0.00 **
Brazil Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept 1.090 0.00 1.875 0.01
X1: SP500 -0.109 0.03 -0.344 0.01 ns
X2: Region 0.945 0.00 1.294 0.00 ***
X3: Volume 0.000 0.88 -0.002 0.54 ns
X4: Currency 2.860 0.00 0.354 0.55 ***
Model 2
Intercept 1.641 0.00 1.083 0.15
X1: SP500 -0.103 0.05 -0.171 0.20 ns
X2: Region 0.786 0.00 1.188 0.00 ***
X3: Volume 0.002 0.36 0.004 0.19 ns
X4: Currency 3.466 0.00 1.489 0.01 ***
Italy Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept -0.363 0.34 -0.682 0.35
X1: SP500 0.338 0.00 1.044 0.00 ***
X2: Region 0.139 0.05 0.377 0.00 *
X3: Volume 0.011 0.00 0.000 0.97 **
X4: Currency -0.016 0.84 -0.704 0.00 ***
Model 2
Intercept 1.217 0.00 0.342 0.66
X1: SP500 0.551 0.00 1.511 0.00 ***
X2: Region 0.160 0.02 -0.165 0.03 **
X3: Volume 0.007 0.00 0.001 0.63 ns
X4: Currency -0.402 0.00 -1.035 0.00 ***
Germany Fund
Pre-Crisis Period Crisis Period Diff.
Model 1 Beta Sig. Beta Sig. Betas
Intercept -0.664 0.04 0.641 0.52
X1: SP500 0.342 0.00 -0.139 0.37 ***
X2: Region 0.352 0.00 0.809 0.00 ***
X3: Volume 0.006 0.02 -0.010 0.19 **
X4: Currency -0.113 0.08 1.316 0.00 ***
Model 2
Intercept -1.054 0.00 1.373 0.21
X1: SP500 0.481 0.00 -0.164 0.34 ***
X2: Region 0.239 0.00 0.681 0.00 ***
X3: Volume 0.006 0.02 -0.016 0.05 ***
X4: Currency -0.134 0.03 1.393 0.00 ***
Note: Differences in coefficients between the pre-crisis and the
crisis periods are tested by interaction terms. Only significance
levels are reported here. *** p<.001; ** p<.01; * p<.05.