At times of heightened global equity and bond market volatility, high-yielding currencies tend to depreciate while low-yielding ones tend to serve as a "safe haven". The whole spectrum of sensitivity to global volatility is represented among Asia-Pacific currencies.

The Chinese authorities described the management of the renminbi after its 2005 unpegging from the US dollar as involving a basket of trading partner currencies. Outside analysts have detected few signs of such management. We find that, in the two years from mid-2006 to mid-2008, the renminbi...