疲弱的欧元影响在中国的投资

While EU members are debating whether Greece will need to exit the eurozone or not, the impact of the weak euro has spread to Asian countries including China. People are starting to feel the volatility of forex markets both in investments as well as daily life.

One euro stood at about 8.075 yuan at a mid rate on May 21th, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System, part of China’s central bank. Although it had increased 487 basis points compared to the previous trading day, analysts said it was still far lower than the highest level of 8.300 seen at the beginning of May, which caused losses of financial products related to the euro.

Zhao Dapeng, analyst of Department of Financial Market of Huaxia Bank, said, "If the financial products are linked to European stocks, their risks are higher at present. I don’t think it’s a rational choice to buy such products now."

For investors involved in those products, they can’t expect too many returns these days. Data shows that most euro-related financial products due within the first half of the year won’t achieve the promised annualized rate of return. Some of them even had a zero yield rate so far.

Tan Yaling, head of China Forex Investment Research Institute said, "Forex financial products have different features compared to domestic products. For domestic products, we mainly focus on government policies. But forex financial products are more influenced by economic factors, as well as political and other factors."

The euro’s volatility however doesn’t only have unwelcome results. For Chinese consumers in Europe, their purchasing power has increased and they get offered some real discounts.

Meanwhile, analysts said the currency still stands a chance to regain its steam, and investors should be monitoring closely its moves in the coming months to look out for some real value.