Market exposure And Market risk

Suresh Prasad (www.aubsp.com) (15630 Points)

04 December 2010  

Market exposure (or exposure):  is a financial term which measures the proportion of money invested in the same industry sector. For example, a stock portfolio with a total worth of $500,000, with $100,000 in semiconductor industry stocks, would have a 20% exposure in "chip" stocks.

Market risk: is the risk that the value of a portfolio, either an investment portfolio or a trading portfolio, will decrease due to the change in value of the market risk factors. The four standard market risk factors are stock prices, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, and commodity prices. The associated market risk are:

  • Equity risk, the risk that stock prices and/or the implied volatility will change.
  • Interest rate risk, the risk that interest rates and/or the implied volatility will change.
  • Currency risk, the risk that foreign exchange rates and/or the implied volatility will change.
  • Commodity risk, the risk that commodity prices (e.g. corn, copper, crude oil) and/or implied volatility will change