certain markets. 21. having said that, sukuk remain a relatively new product type in hong kong ’ s financial market. some of you may have questions about the mechanics of sukuk, such as what would be suitable underlying assets, how to ensure shariahcompliance, etc. malaysia ’ s experience has clearly shown that there are readily available solutions to address these issues. in particular, while sukuk are assetbased, a number of different sukuk structures are available. so, for companies that do not have much fixed assets, some asset - light sukuk structures may be utilised to bis central bankers ’ speeches overcome issues concerning availability of tangible assets. i am certain that the experts present here today will be able to provide more guidance and address such questions in detail in later sessions. concluding remarks 22. ladies and gentlemen, i hope that you now have a better idea on the opportunities and benefits brought by the development of islamic finance in hong kong. it is essential for all of us to get well - prepared in order to make the most out of these upcoming opportunities. your presence at this conference today is highly encouraging and reflects that you are actively gearing yourselves up. i am confident that you will have a lot to take away from the advice of the experts gathered here today. 23. at the same time, we will continue our efforts to promote market awareness of islamic finance in hong kong. in particular, today ’ s event demonstrates the concerted efforts of hong kong and malaysia in creating market awareness and promoting understanding of islamic finance. we very much appreciate the close partnership we have established with malaysia in developing islamic finance. i wish this conference every success and i certainly look forward to more co - operation opportunities in the future. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

the renminbi, which collectively comprise nearly 40 per cent of the twi. the yen appreciation may have been driven by the tendency of japanese investors to bring some of their funds back home during ‘ risk - off ’ periods in global financial markets. graph 8 8 / 11 bis central bankers'speeches the decline in australian bond yields relative to other advanced economies is likely to have contributed somewhat to the modest depreciation of the australian dollar of late ( graph 8 ). however, over much of the past 18 months or so, higher commodity prices appear to have worked to limit the extent of australian dollar depreciation. 5 indeed, commodity prices have increased noticeably of late. this largely reflects disruptions to supply, particularly of iron ore. in short, there are a number of forces affecting the australian dollar, but they have been pulling in different directions. accordingly, the australian dollar remains within its relatively narrow range of the past few years. having noted the low volatility of the exchange rate over recent years, i need to briefly touch on the recent flash event in currency markets that no doubt caught the attention of many of you in this room. 6 on 3 january, in the span of a few minutes, a sharp appreciation in the yen against the us dollar quickly cascaded into the australian dollar, which depreciated by up to 7 per cent against the yen ( graph 9 ). at the same time, bid - ask spreads had widened significantly. however, trading conditions quickly returned to normal and currencies largely retracted their earlier moves. graph 9 9 / 11 bis central bankers'speeches it is difficult to draw firm conclusions on the causes of such events, but as we outlined in the recent statement on monetary policy, three factors are likely to have contributed. first, there was the liquidation of ‘ carry - trade ’ positions, notably from highly leveraged japanese retail investor accounts. these appear to have been automatically triggered following the initial appreciation of the yen. second, these liquidations occurred at a time when market liquidity was seasonally low, such that the foreign exchange market was more exposed to imbalances between buy and sell orders. recent flash events have tended to occur around this same time of day, in between the close of us markets and the start of asian trading. it was also early in the new year and a public holiday in japan. third, as in previous flash events, algorithmic trading strategies may have amplified the move, for example, by adding to demand to