The global transmission of volatility in the foreign exchange market

Volatility spillovers of the DM/$ and Y/$ exchange rate across regional markets are examined using the integrated volatility of high-frequency data. An analysis of quoting patterns reveals five distinct regions: Asia, Asia-Europe overlap, Europe, Europe-America overlap, and America. After reviewing theoretical foundations for persistence of volatility in dealership markets, regional volatility models are constructed where volatility in one region is a function of yesterday's volatility in that region ("heat-wave effect") and volatility in other regions ("meteor-shower effect"). Evidence of statistically significant effects is found for both own-region and interregional spillovers, but the economic significance of own-region spillovers indicates that heat waves are more important than meteor showers.